Pigment Cell Biology

Pigment Cell Biology provides information on the growth of the pigment cell throughout its life cycle. This book explains how the pigment cell synthesizes its melanin. Organized into 34 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the factors that involved in governing the unique color pattern formation for three species of salamander. This text then explores the cranial and the caudal sections of the medullary plate that contribute to the pigment development of the head and the tail of amphibians. Other chapters consider the difference in the pituitary output of black and white axolotls. This book discusses as well the slow progress in the definition of the roles of the pituitary hormones in melanogenesis. The final chapter deals with a group of pigments that are derived by oxidation from tryptophan. This book is a valuable resource for embryologists, geneticists, histologists, physiologists, cytochemists, and endocrinologists. Comparative pathologists, biophysicists, and biochemists will also find this book useful.

This book comprehensively summarizes the biological mechanisms of coloration and pattern formation of animals at molecular and cellular level, offering up-to-date knowledge derived from remarkable progress in the last 10 years. The brilliant coloration, conspicuous patterns and spectacular color changes displayed by some vertebrates and invertebrates are generally their strategies of the utmost importance for survival. Consists of mainly three parts, starts with introductory chapter, such as Pigments and Pigment Organelles, Developmental Genetics of Pigment Cell Formation, Adult Pigment Patterns, and Color Changes, this book introduces new pigment compounds in addition to classically known pigments and organelles, explains how the generation of multiple types of pigment cell is genetically controlled, describes the mechanisms underlying the zebrafish stripe formation as well as other animals and also summarizes the mechanism of physiological and morphological color changes of teleost, amphibian and cephalopod. Written by experts in the field, this book will be essential reading for graduate students and researchers in biological fields who are interested in pigmentation mechanisms of animals.