Physiologic distribution and differentiation of melanocytes in human fetal and neonatal skin equivalents

To detect the existence of developmentally regulated keratinocyte/melanocyte interactions, we have examined the position and differentiation of melanocytes in both fetal and neonatal skin equivalent models. Co-cultures of fetal keratinocytes/melanocytes and neonatal keratinocytes/melanocytes each have been grown on dermal equivalents constructed with neonatal dermal fibroblasts. Antimelanoma antibody (HMB-45) is used to identify melanocytes and determine their position within these cultures