TOPICAL APPLICATION OF A MELANOTROPIN ANALOG TO VULGAR VITILIGO DERMO-EPIDERMAL MINIGRAFTS

Human subjects with active vulgar vitiligo do not respond well to auto logous dermo-epidermal minigrafting. Eighteen subjects were treated wi th the alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) synthetic anal ogue [Nle(4), D-Phe(7)]-alpha-MSH. The hormone (50 mu l, 0.4 mM) was a pplied topically to 30-cm(2) lesions in which 29-48 minigrafts had bee n made. The hormone did not improve the success of the minigrafting an d no differences were observed in local or distant repigmentation in t reated subjects as compared to the placebo group. Aliquots of 24-h uri ne concentrated by lyophilization irreversibly darkened toad skins, de monstrating the presence of the analogue. This is the first report of the transdermal delivery of a topically applied melanotropin in living human subjects.