Induced Dermal Melanocytosis in Hairless Mice

Generalized Cutaneous Hyperpigmentation in Hairless Mice Induced by Topical Dimethylbenzanthracene

“…It is well known that generalized skin hy perpigmentation can be produced in hairless mice by UV light exposure [5] and through systemic administration of antimalarial agents [6], Nevertheless, in both cases the resulting cutaneous pigmentation is less in tense and rapid, as compared to that found under topical DMBA in the present and pre vious studies [3,4], The diffuse nature of cutaneous hyper pigmentation after topical application of DMBA on the back skin of the animals im-plies a possible systemic effect of the drug. Nevertheless, spreading of DMBA-containing acetone over the entire body surface im mediately after treatment of the back skin and subsequent absorption of the carcinogen cannot be excluded.…”

Different effects of topically applied 5-fluorouracil on hairy and hairless mice

“…The increase in the number of dermal melanocytes is, too, an interesting finding induced by the drug. In previous studies, dermal melanocytosis, or 'blue nevus' has been induced in the skin ofthe hairless mice by exposure to gas-oil and ultraviolet light (Rocha & Winkelmann, 1962), and by topical application of dimethyl-benzanthracene (DMBA) (Klaus et al, 1965). These studies demonstrated larger numbers of dermal melanocytes than ours.…”

“…The purpose of this paper is to see if hairless mice epidermis is normal except for hair follicles using this drug. It is important to check this since hairless mice skin has been widely used for many experimental studies as a useful animal (Rocha & Winkelmann, 1962;Nurse, 1963;Klaus & Winkelmann, 1965;Tsuji, Sugai & Saito, 1969;McCullough et al, 1983;Clement, Phillips & du Vivier, 1984). In this study we used both hairy and hairless mice to compare with each other.…”