Hou L, Kwon B S
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis 46202, USA.
Pigment Cell Res. 1995 Apr;8(2):113-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0749.1995.tb00650.x.
We found previously that neural crest cells in turtle embryos migrated into the lung buds and melanocytes were located in the lungs. The finding suggested to us that the lungs provide a stimulatory factor(s) to the differentiation of neural crest cells into melanocytes. We have established lung cell lines to facilitate analysis of the interactions of neural crest cells with the environment in melanocyte development. One cell line, TLC-2, was found to produce a putative melanization-stimulating activity (MSA), which promoted the melanocyte differentiation in vitro of avian neural crest cells. The TLC-2-derived MSA was different from that of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH), and steel factor (SLF). Its molecular weight was estimated to be within the range of 150 kD. Our findings suggest that MSA may be a novel factor exercising a positive control over melanocyte differentiation.
我们先前发现，乌龟胚胎中的神经嵴细胞迁移至肺芽中，且肺中存在黑素细胞。这一发现使我们推测，肺为神经嵴细胞分化为黑素细胞提供了一种或多种刺激因子。我们建立了肺细胞系，以促进对黑素细胞发育过程中神经嵴细胞与环境相互作用的分析。我们发现其中一个细胞系TLC-2能产生一种假定的黑素生成刺激活性（MSA），它可促进禽类神经嵴细胞在体外分化为黑素细胞。TLC-2产生的MSA不同于碱性成纤维细胞生长因子（bFGF）、α-黑素细胞刺激素（α-MSH）和干细胞因子（SLF）。其分子量估计在150 kD范围内。我们的研究结果表明，MSA可能是一种对黑素细胞分化起正向调控作用的新因子。
