Pigment-independent cAMP-mediated epidermal thickening protects against cutaneous UV injury by keratinocyte proliferation.

ABSTRACT: The epidermis increases pigmentation and epidermal thickness in response to ultraviolet exposure to protect against UV-associated carcinogenesis; however, the contribution of epidermal thickness has been debated. In a humanized skin mouse model that maintains interfollicular epidermal melanocytes, we found that forskolin, a small molecule that directly activates adenylyl cyclase and promotes cAMP generation, up-regulated epidermal eumelanin accumulation in fair-skinned melanocortin-1-receptor (Mc1r)-defective animals. Forskolin-induced pigmentation was associated with a reproducible expansion of epidermal thickness irrespective of melanization or the presence of epidermal melanocytes. Rather, forskolin-enhanced epidermal thickening was mediated through increased keratinocyte proliferation,

SUBMITTER: Scott TL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3481176 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature