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The mathematics of tanning

BACKGROUND: The pigment melanin is produced by specialized cells, called melanocytes. In healthy skin, melanocytes are sparsely spread among the other cell types in the basal layer of the epidermis. Sun tanning results from an UV-induced increase in the release of melanin to neighbouring keratinocyt...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Thingnes, Josef, Øyehaug, Leiv, Hovig, Eivind, Omholt, Stig W
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2714304/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19505344
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1752-0509-3-60
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author Thingnes, Josef
Øyehaug, Leiv
Hovig, Eivind
Omholt, Stig W
author_facet Thingnes, Josef
Øyehaug, Leiv
Hovig, Eivind
Omholt, Stig W
author_sort Thingnes, Josef
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The pigment melanin is produced by specialized cells, called melanocytes. In healthy skin, melanocytes are sparsely spread among the other cell types in the basal layer of the epidermis. Sun tanning results from an UV-induced increase in the release of melanin to neighbouring keratinocytes, the major cell type component of the epidermis as well as redistribution of melanin among these cells. Here we provide a mathematical conceptualization of our current knowledge of the tanning response, in terms of a dynamic model. The resolution level of the model is tuned to available data, and its primary focus is to describe the tanning response following UV exposure. RESULTS: The model appears capable of accounting for available experimental data on the tanning response in different skin and photo types. It predicts that the thickness of the epidermal layer and how far the melanocyte dendrites grow out in the epidermal layers after UV exposure influence the tanning response substantially. CONCLUSION: Despite the paucity of experimental validation data the model is constrained enough to serve as a foundation for the establishment of a theoretical-experimental research programme aimed at elucidating the more fine-grained regulatory anatomy underlying the tanning response.
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spelling pubmed-27143042009-07-23 The mathematics of tanning Thingnes, Josef Øyehaug, Leiv Hovig, Eivind Omholt, Stig W BMC Syst Biol Research Article BACKGROUND: The pigment melanin is produced by specialized cells, called melanocytes. In healthy skin, melanocytes are sparsely spread among the other cell types in the basal layer of the epidermis. Sun tanning results from an UV-induced increase in the release of melanin to neighbouring keratinocytes, the major cell type component of the epidermis as well as redistribution of melanin among these cells. Here we provide a mathematical conceptualization of our current knowledge of the tanning response, in terms of a dynamic model. The resolution level of the model is tuned to available data, and its primary focus is to describe the tanning response following UV exposure. RESULTS: The model appears capable of accounting for available experimental data on the tanning response in different skin and photo types. It predicts that the thickness of the epidermal layer and how far the melanocyte dendrites grow out in the epidermal layers after UV exposure influence the tanning response substantially. CONCLUSION: Despite the paucity of experimental validation data the model is constrained enough to serve as a foundation for the establishment of a theoretical-experimental research programme aimed at elucidating the more fine-grained regulatory anatomy underlying the tanning response. BioMed Central 2009-06-09 /pmc/articles/PMC2714304/ /pubmed/19505344 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1752-0509-3-60 Text en Copyright © 2009 Thingnes et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Thingnes, Josef
Øyehaug, Leiv
Hovig, Eivind
Omholt, Stig W
The mathematics of tanning
title The mathematics of tanning
title_full The mathematics of tanning
title_fullStr The mathematics of tanning
title_full_unstemmed The mathematics of tanning
title_short The mathematics of tanning
title_sort mathematics of tanning
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2714304/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19505344
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1752-0509-3-60
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