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Effects of isopropyl unoprostone on melanogenesis in mouse epidermal melanocytes
K Kashiwagi1, K Tsukamoto, K Wakamatsu
1Departments of Ophthalmology, Yamanashi Medical University, Tamaho, Japan.
Purpose:
To investigate the effects of isopropyl unoprostone (referred to as unoprostone) on melanin synthesis and the nature of melanin.
Methods:
M1 and M2, potential intraocular oxidized metabolites of unoprostone, were added to the culture medium in a cultured immortal line of mouse epidermal melanocytes, melan-a, once a day for 2 weeks at concentrations of 5 nM and 50 nM. Vehicle solution was utilized as a control. The amounts of pyrrole-2,3,5-tricarboxylic acid (PTCA), an oxidized product of eumelanin, and aminohydroxyphenylalanine (AHP), a hydrolyzed product of pheomelanin, were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography.
Results:
A 5-nM concentration of M2 significantly increased PTCA production (20.84 +/- 3.17 ng/10(6) cells mean +/- SD) compared with the control (14.58 +/- 4.62 ng/10(6) cells) (P =.04), although other concentrations did not affect the synthesis of PTCA or AHP. A 5-nM concentration of M2 significantly increased the PTCA/AHP (1.86 +/- 0.18) ratio compared with the control (1.37 +/- 0.41) (P =.04). A 50 nM concentration of M2 slightly increased the PTCA/AHP (1.74 +/- 0.58) ratio, but M1 did not affect this ratio.
Conclusions:
These results indicate that M2 affects not only melanogenesis but also the nature of melanin, which could result in unoprostone-generated iridial pigmentation.