The short version of melanocortin receptor fits in a sentence. The long version — which is the one that helps — is below.
This page was last updated on 2026-04-03 and is reviewed periodically as new material appears.
Melanocortin receptors comprise five subtypes with distinct tissue distributions and functions. Melanotan-2 is described in the literature as a non-selective agonist that engages several of these subtypes, including MC1R, MC3R, MC4R, and MC5R. MC1R is the subtype most directly linked to melanin production in skin cells. Because the compound is not subtype-selective, its observed effects in experimental settings are generally attributed to activity across multiple receptor pathways rather than to a single target.
Melanotan-2 is a synthetic linear peptide built from seven amino acids arranged in a short chain. Its sequence is commonly written as Ac-Nle-Asp-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys-NH2, which includes a modified N-terminus and an amidated C-terminus. The molecule belongs to the melanocortin family and acts as a receptor agonist. Structural features such as the D-phenylalanine residue and the Nle substitution are associated with increased stability against enzymatic degradation relative to the natural parent peptide.
The peptide was developed during the 1980s by researchers investigating melanocortin signalling and skin pigmentation pathways. Early work focused on analogues of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone that would resist enzymatic breakdown more effectively than the parent molecule. Melanotan-2 emerged from that programme as a shortened, cyclised variant. Reports describing its synthesis and receptor activity later appeared in the scientific literature. Commercial availability grew through unregulated channels rather than through pharmaceutical approval.
Structurally, Melanotan-2 retains the core recognition motif of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone while adding a lactam bridge that links two side chains and constrains the molecule into a ring. This modification lowers susceptibility to enzymatic degradation. The compound acts as an agonist at melanocortin receptors, particularly subtypes associated with melanin production. Because the same receptor family influences several physiological processes, researchers note that its activity is not confined to pigmentation alone. Receptor selectivity continues to be examined in published studies.
Melanotan-2 is a synthetic cyclic heptapeptide designed as an analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, a naturally occurring peptide involved in pigmentation signalling. Its sequence incorporates modified residues that increase potency and extend biological activity relative to the native hormone. The compound binds receptors of the melanocortin family and is examined mainly in laboratory research. It does not occur naturally and exists only as a manufactured chemical entity produced by solid-phase synthesis.
| Property | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Molecular formula | C50H69N15O9 | Free base; salt forms differ |
| Molecular weight | Approximately 1024 g/mol | Calculated for the free base |
| Appearance | White to off-white powder | Typically supplied as a lyophilised solid |
| Solubility | Soluble in water and polar solvents | Poorly soluble in non-polar solvents |
| Typical storage | -20 degrees Celsius, dry, protected from light | Refers to the solid form |
Outside regulated medicine, melanotan II circulates through online vendors as a research chemical, often marketed for tanning. Products sold this way vary widely in purity, concentration, and labeling accuracy, and independent testing has documented discrepancies. Published reports describe both pigment effects and adverse reactions, including nausea, flushing, and darkening of existing moles. Long-term safety data are sparse, and no large controlled trial has established a risk profile. Questions about cumulative effects on melanocytes remain unresolved in the literature.
Melanotan II is a synthetic peptide analog modeled on alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, a naturally occurring signaling peptide involved in pigmentation. Its structure is a cyclic heptapeptide containing two non-natural substitutions, norleucine at position four and D-phenylalanine at position seven. These modifications resist enzymatic breakdown and extend the molecule's activity relative to the native hormone. The compound binds melanocortin receptors and is studied mainly as a pharmacological tool rather than a therapeutic product. It has never received approval as a medicine in any major jurisdiction.
The peptide acts as a non-selective agonist at melanocortin receptors, showing affinity for MC1R, MC3R, MC4R and MC5R. Activation of MC1R on melanocytes drives the conversion of tyrosine into melanin and shifts production toward the darker eumelanin form. MC4R signalling in the central nervous system is linked to appetite and energy balance, which helps explain why reduced food intake appeared in early human studies. Effects on MC4R and on vascular tone also account for the erectile responses recorded as unexpected findings in those same trials.
Melanotan-2 is frequently confused with afamelanotide, a linear analogue authorised in the European Union for erythropoietic protoporphyria. The two compounds differ in chain length, ring structure and receptor selectivity, so findings for one cannot be transferred directly to the other. Published controlled human data on melanotan-2 remain sparse, and much of what circulates online derives from small studies or unpublished reports. Questions about effect size, dose-response behaviour and long-term safety therefore remain unresolved.
Research interest has centred on photoprotection and pigmentation, with a smaller body of work on appetite and sexual function. Published human data remain limited to small, frequently uncontrolled studies, and the compound has never received marketing approval from a national medicines regulator. Most laboratory work treats it as a pharmacological tool for probing melanocortin signalling in cell culture or animal models. Whether pigmentation changes observed in people translate into measurable protection against ultraviolet-induced DNA damage remains an open question.
Melanotan-2 is a synthetic cyclic heptapeptide designed as an analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, the naturally occurring peptide involved in pigmentation signalling. Its sequence is conventionally written as Ac-Nle-cyclo[Asp-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys]-NH2, with a lactam bridge joining the aspartate side chain to the lysine side chain. The empirical formula is C50H69N15O9 and the monoisotopic mass lies near 1023.5 daltons. N-terminal acetylation and the D-configured phenylalanine both increase resistance to enzymatic breakdown compared with the parent hormone.
These electrostatic forces can be large enough for material transfer between two surfaces. Most of these protocols have only been published recently and their respective advantages and disadvantages have not yet been tested against each other. It is therefore not yet clear how reliable these methods are and what level of preservation of the samples is required for them to work. ZooMS protocols can be valuable when working with cultural heritage objects as they support derivation of biological (and therefore location) data with minimal harm to the object.
Despite its sedating action, mirtazapine is also believed to be capable of this, so in the United States and certain other countries, it carries a black box label warning of these potential effects, especially for people under the age of 25. Mirtazapine may induce arthralgia (non-inflammatory joint pain). A case report published in 2000 noted an instance in which mirtazapine counteracted the action of clonidine, causing a dangerous rise in blood pressure. In a study comparing 32 antidepressants of all pharmacological classes, mirtazapine was one of the antidepressants most likely to cause nightmare disorder, sleepwalking, restless legs syndrome, night terrors and sleep paralysis. Mirtazapine has been associated with an increased risk of death compared to other antidepressants in several studies. However, it is more likely that the residual differences between people prescribed mirtazapine rather than a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor account for the difference in risk of mortality.
== Adverse effects == Motixafortide can cause injection site reactions, anaphylactic shock, and hypersensitivity reactions. Tumor cell mobilization in people with leukemia, leukocytosis, potential for tumor cell mobilization, and embryo-fetal toxicity can also be caused by motixafortide.
He was also the suspect of an unsolved double killing at Malaysia. 1993: Yap Biew Hian, a Malaysian shipyard worker found guilty of killing his female tenant Wong Mee Hiong. Yap was sentenced to death on 10 March 1993 and lost his appeal in October 1993, and since then, he was hanged. 1993: Ng Soo Hin, a Singaporean carpenter who, at age 19, murdered both his 19-year-old girlfriend Foo Chin Chin and Foo's 18-year-old best friend Ng Lee Kheng. Ng was sentenced to death on 26 May 1993 and lost his appeal on 3 December 1993, and since then, he was hanged. 1993: Ithinin Kamari, who was found guilty and sentenced to hang in 1992 for the 1989 Tanglin Halt double murders. Ithinin's appeal was dismissed in 1993, and he was hanged thereafter. 1994: Liow Han Heng and Ibrahim bin Masod, who were condemned to death in 1992 for kidnapping and killing a goldsmith. Only Ibrahim was put to death on 29 July 1994 while Liow died from a heart attack in August 1993 before he could be executed. 1995: Flor Contemplacion, a Filipina domestic worker hanged on 17 March 1995 for murdering another Filipino domestic worker and a three-year-old boy. 1995: Oh Laye Koh, a Singaporean and former school bus driver who was hanged on 19 May 1995 for the 1989 murder of Liang Shan Shan, a 17-year-old Malaysian schoolgirl. He was also the suspected killer of 18-year-old lounge waitress Norhayah binti Mohamed Ali back in 1982. 1995: Mohamad Ashiek Salleh and Junalis Lumat, the two taxi robbers who killed taxi driver Teo Kim Hock during a robbery and hanged on 16 June 1995.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
== Maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood == There are many approaches to reconstructing phylogenetic trees, each with advantages and disadvantages, and there is no straightforward answer to "what is the best method?". Maximum parsimony (MP) and maximum likelihood (ML) are traditional methods widely used for the estimation of phylogenies and both use character information directly, as Bayesian methods do. Maximum Parsimony recovers one or more optimal trees based on a matrix of discrete characters for a certain group of taxa and it does not require a model of evolutionary change. MP gives the most simple explanation for a given set of data, reconstructing a phylogenetic tree that includes as few changes across the sequences as possible. The support of the tree branches is represented by bootstrap percentage. For the same reason that it has been widely used, its simplicity, MP has also received criticism and has been pushed into the background by ML and Bayesian methods. MP presents several problems and limitations. As shown by Felsenstein (1978), MP might be statistically inconsistent, meaning that as more and more data (e.g. sequence length) is accumulated, results can converge on an incorrect tree and lead to long branch attraction, a phylogenetic phenomenon where taxa with long branches (numerous character state changes) tend to appear more closely related in the phylogeny than they really are.
Following this, the European Green Party presented the European Parliament copies of contracts signed by two European companies and representatives of the President of Somalia, to accept 10 million tonnes of toxic waste for $80 million. According to reports by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the waste resulted in abnormally high cases of respiratory infections, mouth ulcers, mouth bleeding, abdominal haemorrhages and unusual skin infections among the inhabitants of and around the northeastern towns of Hobyo and Benadir. These diseases were consistent with radiation sickness. UNEP adds that the situation posed a very serious environmental hazard to Somalia and the broader eastern Africa sub-region.
==== August 2015 Salmonella ==== At almost the same time as the Simi Valley norovirus outbreak, Minnesota health officials confirmed a Salmonella outbreak that affected 17 Minneapolis-area Chipotle restaurants in mid-August 2015. The source of the outbreak was traced back to contaminated tomatoes that were grown in Mexico. The Minnesota Department of Health reported that samples from 45 victims were tested and found that their illness was caused by the Salmonella Newport bacterium as determined by DNA profiling. Later, the state officials reported that the total of persons who became infected was increased to 64 and the number Chipotle locations in which they had acquired the bacterium was increased to 22, all located within the state of Minnesota.
Octreotide (brand name Sandostatin, Novartis Pharmaceuticals) is an octapeptide that mimics natural somatostatin pharmacologically, though is a more potent inhibitor of growth hormone, glucagon, and insulin than the natural hormone, and has a much longer half-life (about 90 minutes, compared to 2–3 minutes for somatostatin). Since it is absorbed poorly from the gut, it is administered parenterally (subcutaneously, intramuscularly, or intravenously). It is indicated for symptomatic treatment of carcinoid syndrome and acromegaly. It is also finding increased use in polycystic diseases of the liver and kidney. Lanreotide (Somatuline, Ipsen Pharmaceuticals) is a medication used in the management of acromegaly and symptoms caused by neuroendocrine tumors, most notably carcinoid syndrome. It is a long-acting analog of somatostatin, like octreotide. It is available in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, and was approved for sale in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration on August 30, 2007. Pasireotide, sold under the brand name Signifor, is an orphan drug approved in the United States and the European Union for the treatment of Cushing's disease in patients who fail or are ineligible for surgical therapy. It was developed by Novartis. Pasireotide is somatostatin analog with a 40-fold increased affinity to somatostatin receptor 5 compared to other somatostatin analogs.
=== Stimulation === The hypothalamus coordinates many hormonal and behavioural circadian rhythms, complex patterns of neuroendocrine outputs, complex homeostatic mechanisms, and important behaviours. The hypothalamus must, therefore, respond to many different signals, some of which are generated externally and some internally. Delta wave signalling arising either in the thalamus or in the cortex influences the secretion of releasing hormones; GHRH and prolactin are stimulated whilst TRH is inhibited. The hypothalamus is responsive to:
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
On 25 April 1945, an armoured task force from the British−American Alsos Mission arrived in Tailfingen, and surrounded the KWIC. Hahn was informed that he was under arrest. When asked about reports related to his secret work on uranium, Hahn replied "I have them all here" and handed over 150 reports. He was taken to Hechingen, where he joined Erich Bagge, Horst Korsching, Max von Laue, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and Karl Wirtz. They were then taken to a dilapidated château in Versailles, where they heard about the signing of the German Instrument of Surrender at Reims on 7 May. Over the following days they were joined by Kurt Diebner, Walther Gerlach, Paul Harteck and Werner Heisenberg. All were physicists except Hahn and Harteck, who were chemists, and all had worked on the German nuclear weapons program except von Laue, although he was well aware of it.
== History == Hyaluronic acid was first obtained by Karl Meyer and John Palmer in 1934 from the vitreous body in a cow's eye. The first hyaluronan biomedical product, Healon, was developed in the 1970s and 1980s by Pharmacia, and approved for use in eye surgery (i.e., corneal transplantation, cataract surgery, glaucoma surgery, and surgery to repair retinal detachment). Other biomedical companies also produce brands of hyaluronan for ophthalmic surgery. Native hyaluronic acid has a relatively short half-life (shown in rabbits) so various manufacturing techniques have been deployed to extend the length of the chain and stabilise the molecule for its use in medical applications. The introduction of protein-based cross-links, the introduction of free-radical scavenging molecules such as sorbitol, and minimal stabilisation of the HA chains through chemical agents such as NASHA (non-animal stabilised hyaluronic acid) are all techniques that have been used to preserve its shelf life. In the late 1970s, intraocular lens implantation was often followed by severe corneal edema, due to endothelial cell damage during the surgery. It was evident that a viscous, clear, physiologic lubricant to prevent such scraping of the endothelial cells was needed.
== History == The earliest written descriptions of thiamine deficiency are from ancient China in the context of Chinese medicine. One of the earliest is by Ge Hong in his book Zhou hou bei ji fang (Emergency Formulas to Keep up Your Sleeve) written sometime during the third century. Hong called the illness by the name jiao qi, which can be interpreted as "foot qi". He described the symptoms to include swelling, weakness, and numbness of the feet. He also acknowledged that the illness could be deadly, and claimed that it could be cured by eating certain foods, such as fermented soybeans in wine. Better known examples of early descriptions of "foot qi" are by Chao Yuanfang (who lived during 550–630) in his book Zhu bing yuan hou lun (Sources and Symptoms of All Diseases) and by Sun Simiao (581–682) in his book Bei ji qian jin yao fang (Essential Emergency Formulas Worth a Thousand in Gold). In the mid-19th century, interest in beriberi steadily rose as the disease became more noticeable with changes in diet in East and Southeast Asia. A steady uptick occurred in medical publications, reaching 181 publications from 1880 and 1889, and hundreds more in the following decades. The link to white rice was clear to Western doctors, but a confounding factor was that some other foods such as meat failed to prevent beriberi, so it could not be easily explained as a lack of known chemicals like carbon or nitrogen. With no knowledge of vitamins, the etiology of beriberi was among the most hotly debated subjects in Victorian medicine.
Connell III (1964), chief stage manager of the Metropolitan Opera Christopher Trumbo (1964), screenwriter, The Don Is Dead; son of noted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo Paul Hirsch (1966), film editor, won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing in 1977 for his work on Star Wars John Litvack (1966), EVP and head of programming at The WB Network Arthur Albert (1969), cinematographer and television director Hoyt Hilsman (1970), playwright and screenwriter, son of former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research Roger Hilsman Glenn Switkes (1972), director and environmentalist Jim Jarmusch (1975), writer/director of the Coffee and Cigarettes series Howard Brookner (1976), director, Burroughs: The Movie, Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars Bill Condon (1976), winner of the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for Gods and Monsters, director of Kinsey and Dreamgirls Ric Burns (1978), documentary filmmaker, New York: A Documentary Film, The Civil War Tony Kushner (1978), Academy Award-nominated screenwriter; winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Angels in America Michael Lehmann (1978), director of Heathers, 40 Days and 40 Nights, The Truth About Cats and Dogs and Hudson Hawk Cyril Christo (1982), filmmaker, son of Christo and Jeanne-Claude Ron Simons (1982), producer, four-time Tony Award winner P. J.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
No. Melanotan-2 is manufactured synthetically. The naturally occurring peptide in the same family is alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, which the body produces as part of normal endocrine and neural signalling.
Both are synthetic analogues derived from the same parent hormone. Reference descriptions usually characterise afamelanotide as more selective for the MC1R subtype, whereas melanotan-2 is reported to interact with a wider range of melanocortin receptors.
Early studies explored melanocortin signalling and pigmentation, which later led to informal use of the label tanning peptide. That label is not a regulatory category and does not imply approved status for any purpose.
It is a synthetic cyclic heptapeptide and an analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone. The molecule is produced by chemical synthesis rather than extracted from a biological source.