Healthy Tanning?

Melanotan II was first synthesized at the University of Arizona. Researchers there knew that one of the best defenses against skin cancer was melanin activated in the skin, a tan. They hypothesized that an effective way to reduce skin cancer rates in people would be to induce the body’s natural pigmentary system to produce a protective tan prior to UV exposure. The body’s naturally occurring hormone %u03B1-MSH causes melanogenesis, a process by which the skin’s pigment cells (melanocytes) produce the skin’s pigment (melanin). They tested to see if administering this endogenous hormone to the body directly could be an effective method to cause sunless tanning. What they found was that while it appeared to work, natural %u03B1-MSH had too short a half life in the body to be practical as a therapeutic drug. So they decided to find a more potent and stable alternative, one that would be more practical.

After synthesizing and screening hundreds of molecules, the researchers headed by Victor Hruby, found a peptide, [Nle4, D-Phe7]-%u03B1-MSH, that was approximately 1,000 times more potent than natural %u03B1-MSH.  They dubbed this new peptide molecule, “Melanotan” (later Melanotan I, now known as afamelanotide). They subsequently developed another analog, Ac-Nle-cyclo[Asp-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys]-NH2), which they called “Melanotan II”. The scientists hoped to use these peptides to combat melanoma by stimulating the body’s natural pigmentary mechanism to create a tan without first needing exposure to harmful levels of UV radiation.This in turn, they hypothesized, could reduce the potential for skin damage that can eventually lead to skin cancer.
Melanotan and Melanotan II are both synthetic versions of melanocyte stimulating hormone that were created, synthesized and developed at The University of Arizona and the Arizona Cancer Center. Melanotan is a linear, full length peptide (containing all 13 amino acids). Melanotan II is a shortened, circular version of the same peptide. Both Melanotan and Melanotan II have sunless tanning capabilities but because Melanotan II had libido enhancement and spontaneous erections as side effects, it is now being developed as a sexual and erectile dysfunction drug.

To be particularly clear regarding Melanotan (due to previous incorrect news reports) it should be noted that it does not cause sexual arousal nor have erectile effects. These aspects are only found in the drugs Melanotan II and bremelanotide.
The scientists licensed their patented peptides, via a technology transfer company, to a number of biotechnology companies who intend to develop them into drugs.

Melanotan 1 and 2 are sold for research purposes only and are used for clinical trial studies. The FDA has not approved these peptides as a new drug, or makes claim to any healing properties. Much is still to be learned on the long term effect of these peptides and clinical studies are still conducted to test the abilities of MT1 and MT2

researchpeptides.com

September 17, 2009. Tags: melanotan, melanotan 2, peptides, sexy, spray, sun, sunbathing, sunless tanning, suntan. Alternative Medicine.