Figure 1. TRP-1 and c-Kit expressions decrease in human melanocytes cultured in Mel-mix medium.

Both TRP-1 (A) and c-Kit (B) protein expressions were present in primary cultures, 100% of cells expressed TRP-1 and 30% expressed c-Kit (1p), the expression of both decreased during in vitro culturing. Melanocytes in 7^th passage (7p) expressed neither TRP-1 nor c-Kit proteins. Bar: 100 µm. TRP-1 and c-Kit mRNA expressions were detected in cultured melanocytes at every passage by real-time RT-PCR analysis. TRP-1 (C) mRNA expression decreased significantly, while c-Kit (D) mRNA expressions showed a decreasing trend during in vitro culturing. Values are shown as relative expressions compared to the first passage (1p) sample (mean±SD from three independent experiments; *significant at p≤0.05, Univariate ANOVA).