Colour and melanophore function in rainbow trout after long term exposure to the new antifoulant medetomidine.

Medetomidine is a new antifouling agent, and its effects in non-target aquatic organisms have been investigated. Earlier short-term studies in fish have shown a skin lightening response to medetomidine, but effects after chronic exposure have not been studied. In fish, the dark pigment melanin is contained within specialized cells, melanophores.

Effects of Roundup and glyphosate formulations on intracellular transport, microtubules and actin filaments in Xenopus laevis melanophores.

Glyphosate containing herbicides, such as Roundup, are commonly used and generally considered to be safe. However, some toxic effects are found on amphibians in vivo and human and mouse cells in vitro. In this study the effects of Roundup, glyphosate, glyphosateisopropylamine and isopropylamine were studied on intracellular transport by measuring aggregation capacity in Xenopus laevis melanophores.

New insights into melanosome transport in vertebrate pigment cells.

Pigment cells of lower vertebrates provide an excellent model to study organelle transport as they specialize in the translocation of pigment granules in response to defined chemical cues. This review will focus on the well-studied melanophore/melanocyte systems in fish, amphibians, and mammals. We will describe the roles of melanin, melanophores, and melanocytes in animals, current views on how the three motor proteins dynein, kinesin, and myosin-V are involved in melanosome transport along microtubules and actin filaments, and how signal transduction pathways regulate the activities of the motors to achieve aggregation and dispersion of melanosomes.

Melanophores: a model system for neuronal transport and exocytosis?

Black pigment cells, melanophores, from lower vertebrates are specialized in bidirectional and coordinated translocation of pigment granules, melanosomes, in the cytoplasm. Melanophores develop from the neuronal crest and are most abundant in the dermal and epidermal layers of the skin, where the intracellular distribution of the pigment significantly influences the color of the animal. The transport of pigment is dependent on an intact cytoskeleton and motor proteins associated with cytoskeletal components.

Studies of pigment transfer between Xenopus laevis melanophores and fibroblasts in vitro and in vivo.

Frog melanophores rapidly change colour by dispersion or aggregation of melanosomes. A long-term colour change exists where melanosomes are released from melanophores and transferred to surrounding skin cells. No in vitro model for pigment transfer exists for lower vertebrates.