A Human Serum-Enriched Medium Formulation Supports High Viability and Marker Expression in Primary Melanocyte Cultures from the Outer Root Sheath and Epidermis

The study developed a human serum (HS)-enriched medium, named MEL, to support the proliferation and melanotic activity of human melanocytes from the outer root sheath (HUMORS) and normal human epidermal melanocytes (NHEM) without using PMA/TPA, IBMX, fetal bovine serum (FBS), or bovine pituitary extract (BPE). The MEL medium, with BPE and FBS replaced by HS, effectively supported melanocyte proliferation and marker expression, meeting therapeutic application requirements. Research-grade formulations, MEL-HUMORS and MEL-NHEM, were suitable for melanocyte expansion and development of melanotic properties in vitro, performing as well as or better than commercial FBS-containing media. The study highlighted the synergistic effect of BPE and HS on proliferation and noted that bFGF addition inhibited proliferation, suggesting that HS or BPE could replace complex growth factor cocktails in melanocyte media.