New melanogenesis in skin graft was experimentally studied in 20 adult C57 BL mice by histochemistry.
Full-thickness autoplastic skin grafts were applied on the wounds sized 1.5 × 2 cm, which were made on the back of the mice by excision through the panniculus carnosus. On the 3rd, 7th, 30th, and 60th day after skin grafting, the grafts were processed for histochemistry of dihydroxyphenylalanine (dopa) and examined by Fontana-Masson silver staining.
Normal dorsal skin of the trunk of black mouse was pale and amelanotic. Vertical preparations with dopa did not reveal any dopa-positive melanocytes in either the pidermis or the dermis. On the 30th, and 60th day after grafting, the grafts were brownish black pigmented. Dopa-preparations and Fontana-Masson silver staining indicated that the brownish black pigmentation of the grafts was related to the presence of melanin pigments produced by functioning melanocytes in the basal layer of the epidermis.
The dorsal skin of the trunk of the adult C57 Black mouse may provide an ideal model for elucidating the hyperpigmentation of the skin graft.
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