Chemical Forums
Specialty Chemistry Forums => Biochemistry and Chemical Biology Forum => Topic started by: dsz94 on March 23, 2016, 03:16:41 PM
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Hi all, first post.
I need some help on a hypothesis. So since melanogenesis largely revolves around the MC1R receptor. αMSH acts as an agonist and agouti signaling protein as an antagonist. So blocking αMSH and administering ASIP will hinder the melanin production, in theory. But how does this really work?
Mutations on the MC1R receptor are genetic and very complex from my understanding. The recent studies done on mice suggest that dose-dependent ASIP and/or α-MSH inhibitor hormone CAN lead to decreased melanin, and/or a switch to pheomelanin production(which is lighter than eumelanin, so it's perceived as 'depigmentation' as well). So this basically means that ASIP and α-MSH inhibitor hormone injections can cause something close to a mutation?
So if we give Bill the right(or wrong...)dose of ASIP/α-MSH inhibiting hormone, his pigmentation will visibly change?I could find no studies on human, but there is evidence that α-MSH injections were used to boost melanin and skin pigmentation in the 80's-90's. So, basically the opposite could be achieved using ASIP and α-MSH inhibiting hormone? Would the changes be permanent? Or periodical(weekly/monthly/yearly)injections are required?
I think this is a very intriguing subject, and I hope there will be at least somebody here who won't find this boring. I can also link a few pubmed articles if someone's interested in discussing this.
*MOD Edit - fix punctuation*