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Interaction and developmental activation of two neuroendocrine systems that regulate light‐mediated skin pigmentation
Author(s) -
Bertolesi Gabriel E.,
Song Yi N.,
AtkinsonLeadbeater Karen,
Yang JungLynn J.,
McFarlane Sarah
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
pigment cell and melanoma research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1755-148X
pISSN - 1755-1471
DOI - 10.1111/pcmr.12589
Subject(s) - chromatophore , melatonin , melanosome , xenopus , biology , melanophore , melanopsin , melatonin receptor , microbiology and biotechnology , darkness , medicine , endocrinology , melanocyte stimulating hormone , receptor , melanocortin 1 receptor , hormone , photopigment , neuroscience , phenotype , melanin , genetics , retina , gene , botany
Summary Lower vertebrates use rapid light‐regulated changes in skin colour for camouflage (background adaptation) or during circadian variation in irradiance levels. Two neuroendocrine systems, the eye/alpha‐melanocyte‐stimulating hormone (α‐ MSH ) and the pineal complex/melatonin circuits, regulate the process through their respective dispersion and aggregation of pigment granules (melanosomes) in skin melanophores. During development, Xenopus laevis tadpoles raised on a black background or in the dark perceive less light sensed by the eye and darken in response to increased α‐ MSH secretion. As embryogenesis proceeds, the pineal complex/melatonin circuit becomes the dominant regulator in the dark and induces lightening of the skin of larvae. The eye/α‐ MSH circuit continues to mediate darkening of embryos on a black background, but we propose the circuit is shut down in complete darkness in part by melatonin acting on receptors expressed by pituitary cells to inhibit the expression of pomc , the precursor of α‐ MSH .