Anatomy of the skin with melanocytes; drawing shows normal skin anatomy, including the epidermis, dermis, hair follicles, sweat glands, hair shafts, veins, arteries, fatty tissue, nerves, lymph vessels, oil glands, and subcutaneous tissue.

In the human skin, melanocytes are present in the epidermis and hair follicles. The basic features of these cells are the ability to melanin production and the origin from neural crest cells.

In the process of skin pigmentation melanosomes are transferred from melanocytes in the basal layer of the epidermis to overlying keratinocytes ( Figure 1). The transfer involves a unique...

Melanocytes are melanin-producing neural crest-derived [3] cells located in the bottom layer (the stratum basale) of the skin's epidermis, the middle layer of the eye (the uvea), [4] the inner ear, [5] vaginal epithelium, [6] meninges, [7] bones, [8] and heart found in many mammals and birds. [9]

A cross section diagram of the skin showing the epidermis, dermis, and melanocytes spreading.