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Insights from zebrafish on human pigment cell disease and treatment
Author(s) -
Cooper Cynthia D.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
developmental dynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.634
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1097-0177
pISSN - 1058-8388
DOI - 10.1002/dvdy.24550
Subject(s) - zebrafish , biology , melanophore , neural crest , melanocyte , chromatophore , microbiology and biotechnology , cell , disease , melanoma , cell type , gene , skin cancer , genetics , cancer , pathology , medicine
Black pigment cells, melanocytes, arise early during development from multipotent neural crest cells. Melanocytes protect human skin from DNA damaging sunrays and provide color for hair, eyes, and skin. Several disorders and diseases originate from these cells, including the deadliest skin cell cancer, melanoma. Thus, melanocytes are critical for a healthy life and for protecting humans from disease. Due to the ease of visualizing pigment cells through transparent larvae skin and conserved roles for zebrafish melanophore genes to mammalian melanocyte genes, zebrafish larvae offer a biologically relevant model for understanding pigment cell development and disease in humans. This review discusses our current knowledge of melanophore biology and how zebrafish are contributing to improving how diseases of melanocytes are understood and treated in humans. Developmental Dynamics 246:889–896, 2017 . © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.