An experimental and descriptive analysis of the melanocyte population in the venter of the PET mouse

Abstract

Abstract Although melanoctyes appear to be limited to the hair folicles of adult belly skin of the PET mouse, they are found throughout the integument of the newborn. Trauma applied to the ventral belly skin of newborn PET mice results in the maintenance and augmentation of the melanocytes within the skin, even after the formation and growth of hair. The area immediately surrounding the site of trauma shows an increase in the number of melanocytes, apparently due in part to the disruption of the developing follicles and the consequent release of their pigment cells to the skin. UV irradiation also maintains a system of melanocytes within the ventral belly skin of PET mice. The significance of the maintenance and augmentation of melanocytes from the newborn into the adult by surgical trauma or UV radiation is discussed.