Afamelanotide mastery course
Unit 2 of 12

MC1R and the melanin switch

Afamelanotide works by docking onto one receptor, MC1R, and triggering a chemical relay that ends in pigment. This unit…

How afamelanotide turns on the skin's pigment machinery

Afamelanotide works by docking onto one receptor, MC1R, and triggering a chemical relay that ends in pigment. This unit follows that relay from the receptor on a melanocyte down to the genes that build eumelanin.

It also covers the quieter half of the story: MC1R signaling protects skin in ways that do not depend on pigment at all, from DNA repair to calming inflammation.

Key terms

The MC1R signaling relay


Where it acts in the skin


Two arms of photoprotection


The pigment-making enzymes


Eumelanin versus pheomelanin