Are melanocytes involved in the blood vessel structure of the mouse uvea and the stria vascularis ductus cochlearis?

黑素细胞起源于神经嵴，这是脊椎动物特有的胚胎细胞群，并迁移到各种组织和器官，包括皮肤、脉膜、内耳、心脏、大脑、脂肪组织、肺等。虽然皮肤黑素细胞的功能已经被很好地分析了，但那些分散在全身的皮肤外黑素细胞的作用却很少被了解，因为只有很小一部分光线能照射到它们的存在。阐明这些作用和功能不仅有助于揭示这些色素细胞在进化过程中的功能分化，而且有助于我们发现色素障碍的伴随症状，从而使这些小鼠毛色突变成为重要的疾病模型动物。利用小鼠隐性毛色等位基因Mitfmi-bw进行的形态学和组织化学研究表明，黑素细胞可能参与了葡萄膜血管结构的结构。

Melanocytes originate from the neural crest, a vertebrate-specific embryonic cell population, and migrate to a variety of tissues and organs, including the skin, choroid, inner ear, heart, brain, adipose tissue, lung, etc. Although the functions of skin melanocytes are well analyzed, the roles of those extracutaneous melanocytes scattered all over the body, where only a very small fraction of light illuminate their existence, are scarcely understood. It is significant to elucidate such roles and functions in order not only to uncover the functional divergence of these pigment cells during evolution but also to help us find those accompanied symptoms with pigment disorder, which then lead to make such mouse coat color mutants important disease model animals. Morphological and histochemical studies using a recessive mouse coat color allele Mitfmi-bw that impairs melanocyte differentiation suggest that melanocytes may be involved in the structure of the uveal blood vessel structure.