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. 2020 Apr 24;20(1):173–185. doi: 10.3892/etm.2020.8687

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Copyright: © Qian et al.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

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Melanogenesis and transport. Melanocytes are located on the basal layer of the skin, which synthesizes melanin. Eumelanin and pheomelanin are produced in melanosomes, a specialized organelle within melanocytes, through a series of reactions that are catalyzed by melanogenic enzymes. The synthetic pathways are divided into two branches: Eumelanogenesis and pheomelanogenesis. Melanocytes transport the melanin pigments produced by melanosomes through their elongated dendrites into neighboring keratinocytes in the epidermis layer. TRP1, tyrosinase related protein-1; TRP2, tyrosinase related protein-2; L-DOPA, L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine.