Silk Fibroin-Based Hydrogel Microneedles Deliver Alpha-MSH to Promote Melanosome Delivery for Vitiligo Treatment
April 2023
in “
ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering
”
TLDR Silk fibroin microneedles can effectively treat vitiligo by promoting skin pigmentation.
Silk fibroin-based hydrogel microneedles have been developed to deliver α-MSH directly to the epidermis, offering a promising treatment for vitiligo by protecting melanocytes, promoting dendrite extension, and enhancing melanosome transfer. This method up-regulates melanogenesis-related factors and increases the number of hair follicle stem cells with good proliferative activity, presenting a novel approach to address the depigmentation characteristic of vitiligo.