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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.
Sec. Skin Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1513054
This article is part of the Research Topic Light and Skin: for Health and Wellness View all articles

Balancing Act: Optimizing Blue Light for Melanogenesis While Minimizing Cellular Damage in Primary Human Skin Cells

Provisionally accepted
Augustin Barolet Augustin Barolet 1,2,3,4Brice Magne Brice Magne 1,2,4Karel Ferland Karel Ferland 1,2,4Natallia E. Uzunbajakava Natallia E. Uzunbajakava 5Daniel Barolet Daniel Barolet 3,6Lucie Germain Lucie Germain 1,2,4*
  • 1 Regenerative Medicine Division, CHU de Quebec – Université Laval Research Centre, Quebec City, Qc, Canada
  • 2 Centre de recherche en organogénèse expérimentale de l’Université Laval/LOEX, Quebec City, Qc, Canada
  • 3 RoseLab Skin Optics Research Laboratory, Laval, Qc, Canada
  • 4 Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec City, Qc, Canada
  • 5 TNO at the Holst Centre, Eindhoven, Netherlands
  • 6 Division of Dermatology, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

     Optimal Light Parameters for Safety and E icacy: The study identifies blue light parameters (10 mW/cm², 15 J/cm²) that e ectively stimulate melanogenesis while maintaining cell metabolic activity, providing crucial insights for therapeutic applications.  Biphasic Dose-Response in Melanogenesis: Moderate blue light intensities (5 mW/cm², 10 J/cm² to 15 mW/cm², 20 J/cm²) enhance melanogenesis without significant cytotoxicity, while the highest intensitiy (50 mW/cm², 50 J/cm²) induce cytotoxicity, underscoring the importance of precise dosing.  Role of Cell Interactions in Melanogenesis: Co-culture experiments demonstrated that irradiated keratinocytes enhanced melanogenesis in melanocytes via paracrine signaling, o ering insights into the cellular mechanisms of melanogenesis under blue light exposure.  Foundation for Clinical Application: These results lay the groundwork for developing blue lightbased therapies for pigmentation disorders.

    Keywords: Blue light, Cell viability, melanogenesis, Melanocytes, alpha-MSH, Keratinocytes, Pigmentation, Phototherapy

    Received: 17 Oct 2024; Accepted: 24 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Barolet, Magne, Ferland, Uzunbajakava, Barolet and Germain. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Lucie Germain, Regenerative Medicine Division, CHU de Quebec – Université Laval Research Centre, Quebec City, Qc, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.