Skin pigmentation and its control: from ultraviolet radiation to stem cells
Open accessAbstract
In the light of substantial discoveries in epithelial and hair pigmentation pathophysiology, this review summarizes the current understanding of skin pigmentation mechanisms. Melanocytes are pigment‐producing cells, and their key regulating transcription factor is the melanocyte‐specific microphthalmia‐associated transcription factor (m‐MITF). Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a unique modulator of skin pigmentation influencing tanning pathways. The delayed tanning pathway occurs as UVB produces keratinocyte DNA damage, causing p53‐mediated expression of the pro‐opiomelanocortin (POMC) gene that is processed to release α‐melanocyte‐stimulating hormone (α‐MSH). α‐MSH stimulates the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) on melanocytes, leading to m‐MITF expression and melanogenesis. POMC cleavage also releases β‐endorphin, which creates a neuroendocrine pathway that promotes UV‐seeking behaviours. Mutations along the tanning pathway can affect pigmentation and increase the risk of skin malignancies. MC1R variants have received considerable attention, yet the allele is highly polymorphic with varied phenotypes. Vitiligo presents with depigmented skin lesions due to autoimmune destruction of melanocytes. UVB phototherapy stimulates melanocyte stem cells in the hair bulge to undergo differentiation and upwards migration resulting in perifollicular repigmentation of vitiliginous lesions, which is under sophisticated signalling control. Melanocyte stem cells, normally quiescent, undergo cyclic activation/differentiation and downward migration with the hair cycle, providing pigment to hair follicles. Physiological hair greying results from progressive loss of melanocyte stem cells and can be accelerated by acute stress‐induced, sympathetic driven hyperproliferation of the melanocyte stem cells. Ultimately, by reviewing the pathways governing epithelial and follicular pigmentation, numerous areas of future research and potential points of intervention are highlighted.
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Pheomelanin, when exposed to ultraviolet radiation with a wavelength of 320-400 nanometers provides lower photoprotection.
“Pheomelanin, when exposed to ultraviolet radiation with a wavelength of 320-400 nanometers provides lower photoprotection [38].”
From A Comprehensive Review of the Role of UV Radiation in Photoaging Processes Between Different Types of Skin (2025) · cites this paper as [38]
The “Mutations in the Ultraviolet Controlled Pathway” section states that pheomelanin provides lower photoprotection when exposed to UVA. Our copy does not specify the claimed 320–400 nm wavelength range, so that numerical detail is not verified by this source. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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Vitiligo: From mechanisms of disease to treatable pathways
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“Pheomelanin, when exposed to ultraviolet radiation with a wavelength of 320-400 nanometers provides lower photoprotection [38].”
Interaction of solar radiation with the human skin
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- Authors
- Yardman‐Frank, J. M., & Fisher, D. E.
- Affiliations
- University of New Mexico (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Fisher, David E.
- Venue
- Experimental Dermatology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-12-24
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 560-571
- ISSN
- 0906-6705 (ISSN-L)
- 1600-0625
- PMC
- PMC8218595
- OpenAlex
- W3115707853
- Cited by
- 197
- References
- 109
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 44 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 42 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 2.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Experimental Dermatology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (R01AR043369‐24, R01CA222871‐03, R01AR072304‐04, P01 CA163222‐07)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › melanin and skin pigmentation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Melanoma and MAPK Pathways
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Urology › Hair Growth and Disorders
- Keywords
- skin pigmentation, melanocytes, melanogenesis, microphthalmia-associated transcription factor, ultraviolet radiation, tanning, proopiomelanocortin, alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, MC1R, beta-endorphin, vitiligo, melanocyte stem cells, hair follicle, hair graying, UVB phototherapy, skin cancer risk
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Melanocytes, Skin Pigmentation, Stem Cells, Ultraviolet Rays, Ultraviolet Therapy, Vitiligo, Hair Follicle, Microphthalmia-Associated Transcription Factor
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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