Melanin's impact on skin behaviour: Effects across the pigmentary spectrum.

皮肤颜色的变化是人类最显著的特征，但皮肤的主要功能是感知和保护我们的环境是普遍的。决定皮肤颜色的唯一最重要的物质是黑色素，由称为黑色素细胞的细胞在皮肤内产生-并赋予表皮周围的细胞，角质形成细胞-通过过滤来自太阳的紫外线辐射（UVR）提供保护。因此，我们皮肤中的黑色素水平不仅决定了它的颜色，而且在决定我们皮肤对阳光伤害的敏感性方面也起着关键作用。一般来说，皮肤中的黑色素越多，紫外线就能被吸收得越多，提供的保护就越多;皮肤色素沉着程度高的人比皮肤较浅的同龄人患皮肤癌的几率更低。尽管存在这些差异，但旨在了解皮肤行为的人类皮肤研究通常集中在白色欧洲人的皮肤上，而忽视了更多色素皮肤类型的生物学。近年来，我们对深色皮肤的基本知识已经开始扩展，现在很清楚，除了黑色素的差异外，皮肤结构和组成在最浅和最深皮肤之间也有很大差异。在这项计划中，研究将集中在扩大这方面的知识，真正了解黑色素对整个生命过程中皮肤功能的影响。我们拟议的研究将评估所有肤色的皮肤行为，从最浅到最深，确定1）黑色素在皮肤组织中的作用; 2）表皮如何自我更新（通过研究表皮干细胞群）;以及，3）黑色素如何保护免受氧化应激。我们的最终目标是利用这些知识提供更好的化妆品，能够为所有人提供皮肤益处，无论他们的年龄，性别或肤色如何。

Variation in skin colour is the most noticeable of human characteristics yet skin's primary functions of sensing and providing protection against our environment are universal. The single most important substance for determining skin colour is the pigment melanin, produced within the skin by cells called melanocytes - and gifted to the surrounding cells of the epidermis, the keratinocytes - to provide protection by filtering ultraviolet radiation (UVR) from the sun. Hence, the level of melanin within our skin not only determines its colour, but also plays a key role in determining the susceptibility of our skin to sun damage. In general, the more melanin there is in the skin, the more UVR can be absorbed, and more protection provided; people with highly pigmented skin have a lower incidence skin cancer than their lighter-skinned peers. Despite these differences, human skin studies aimed at understanding how skin behaves have typically focussed on the skin of white European people and have neglected the biology of more pigmented skin types. In recent years our fundamental knowledge of darker skin has started to expand and it is now clear that in addition to differences in melanin, skin structure and composition differs greatly between those with the lightest and the darkest skin. In this programme, research will focus on expanding this knowledge to truly appreciate the impact of melanin on skin function across the life-course. Our proposed research will assess skin behaviour across all skin tones, from the very lightest to the very darkest, identifying 1) the role of melanin in the organisation of skin tissue; 2) how the epidermis self-renews (through study of epidermal stem cell populations); and, 3) how melanin may confer protection against oxidative stress. Our ultimate goal is to use these learnings to provide better cosmetic products capable of delivering skin benefits which are inclusive to all people, regardless of their age, their sex or the colour of their skin.