The study of skin pigmentation requires determining the rate of melanin production in melanocytes and quantifying the rate of melanosome transfer to keratinocytes. Here, we describe a method to quantify melanosome transfer using immunofluorescence microscopy coupled with automated image analysis of in vitro human melanocytes and keratinocytes in co-culture. In this method, the number of melanin capped keratinocyte nuclei is quantified.
Keywords: Image quantification; Melanin transfer quantitation; Melanocyte keratinocyte co-culture; Melanosome transfer.