Selective Cryolysis of Melanocytes: Critical Temperature and Exposure Time to Induce Selective Pigmentary Loss in Yucatan Pig Skin.
Lasers Surg Med
; 53(7): 978-985, 2021 09.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33442871
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
Cryotherapy for melanocytic lesions is often accompanied by collateral damage to the surrounding skin, resulting in skin necrosis and scarring. Adipocytes, like melanocytes, are neural crest-derived cells. Adipocytes have been shown to be more sensitive to cold exposure than their neighboring cells of ectodermal origin, such as epidermal keratinocytes. Such differential sensitivity to cold exposure has led to the development of novel treatment modalities, like cryolipolysis, to selectively target a cell type while sparing neighboring cells. STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
In this study, we investigated the roles of controlled skin freezing, tissue temperature, and exposure time in inducing selective loss of melanocytes and skin depigmentation in swines.RESULTS:
The results of our study demonstrated that contact cooling of the skin surface causes selective loss of epidermal melanocytes when the tissue temperature reaches -7.5°C or cooler with an exposure time of 10 minutes or longer, leading to partial skin depigmentation in swine skin. Longer exposures combined with colder temperature exposure led to more complete depigmentation in the treated skin surface.CONCLUSION:
Cold-sensitivity of melanocytes can be harnessed to selectively remove melanocytes while sparing surrounding keratinocytes. The results from this study demonstrated that improved clinical treatments specifically targeting melanocytic lesions is possible using skin cooling to achieve tissue temperatures capable of inducing selective loss of melanocytes without skin necrosis or scarring. Additional studies are needed to optimize the treatment conditions to prolong the selective removal of melanocytes. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Skin
/
Melanocytes
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Lasers Surg Med
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article