High correlation between skin color based on CIELAB color space, epidermal melanocyte ratio, and melanocyte melanin content.

Wen-Shyan Huang,Nien-Hsien Liou,Lien-Guo Dai,Keng-Yen Fu,Kuo-Hsing Ma,Kun-Che Hung,Yi-Wen Wang,Jiang-Chuan Liu,Pai-Shan Hsieh,Niann-Tzyy Dai

doi:10.7717/peerj.4815

Wen-Shyan Huang, Nien-Hsien Liou + Show 8 more

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https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4815

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Abstract

BackgroundTo treat skin color disorders, such as vitiligo or burns, melanocytes are transplanted for tissue regeneration. However, melanocyte distribution in the human body varies with age and location, making it difficult to select the optimal donor skin to achieve a desired color match. Determining the correlations with the desired skin color measurement based on CIELAB color, epidermal melanocyte numbers, and melanin content of individual melanocytes is critical for clinical application.MethodFifteen foreskin samples from Asian young adults were analyzed for skin color, melanocyte ratio (melanocyte proportion in the epidermis), and melanin concentration. Furthermore, an equation was developed based on CIELAB color with melanocyte ratio, melanin concentration, and the product of melanocyte ratio and melanin concentration. The equation was validated by seeding different ratios of keratinocytes and melanocytes in tissue-engineered skin substitutes, and the degree of fitness in expected skin color was confirmed.ResultsLinear regression analysis revealed a significant strong negative correlation (r = − 0.847, R2 = 0.717) between CIELAB L* value and the product of the epidermal melanocyte ratio and cell-based melanin concentration. Furthermore, the results showed that an optimal skin color match was achieved by the formula.DiscussionWe found that L* value was correlated with the value obtained from multiplying the epidermal melanocyte ratio (R) and melanin content (M) and that this correlation was more significant than either L* vs M or L* vs R. This suggests that more accurate prediction of skin color can be achieved by considering both R and M. Therefore, precise skin color match in treating vitiligo or burn patients would be potentially achievable based on extensive collection of skin data from people of Asian descent.

Highlights

Evaluating skin color match for treating skin color disorder requires an objective measurement to quantify visual skin color into numerous levels
The results showed ratios of melanocytes to epidermal cells ranging from 1.40 ± 0.28 to 3.58 ± 0.07% (Table 1)
To determine the melanin productivity of melanocyte isolated from each foreskin, primary human epidermal melanocytes (PHEMs) were cultured for two passages reaching a purity of 99.4% and analyzed using immunohistochemistry assays and Fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS) (Fig. 2)

Summary

Introduction

Evaluating skin color match for treating skin color disorder requires an objective measurement to quantify visual skin color into numerous levels. Determining the correlations with the desired skin color measurement based on CIELAB color, epidermal melanocyte numbers, and melanin content of individual melanocytes is critical for clinical application. We found that L* value was correlated with the value obtained from multiplying the epidermal melanocyte ratio (R) and melanin content (M) and that this correlation was more significant than either L* vs M or L* vs R. This suggests that more accurate prediction of skin color can be achieved by considering both R and M. Precise skin color match in treating vitiligo or burn patients would be potentially achievable based on extensive collection of skin data from people of Asian descent

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