[Distribution of melanocytes in the dorsal skin of genetic mouse chimeras]

Chimeras were obtained by aggregating two embryos from inbred mice (C57BL/Mib), C57BL/Mib mice, and outbred albino mice (c/c). It was shown that C57BL/Mib AKP chimeras had unbalanced pigment distribution with a higher proportion of AKR melanocytes in the posterior coat, while C57BL/Mib c/c chimeras had unbalanced pigment distribution with a higher proportion of C57BL/Mib melanocytes in the posterior coat. This observation can be explained, provided the differences in the migration rate of the three melanocyte populations from the neural crest are controlled genetically.