• Cells in the skin and eyes that produce and contain the pigment called melanin.
  NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms
  U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
• Dendritic pigment cells of the epidermis that synthesize tyrosinase, and within their melanosomes the pigment melanin is synthesized; they control long term morphological skin color changes.
  CRISP Thesaurus
  National Institutes of Health, 2006
• Cells located deep in the epidermis that produce melanin, the pigment that colors skin.
  Harvard Dictionary of Health Terms
  Harvard Medical Publishing, 2011
• Mammalian pigment cells that produce MELANINS, pigments found mainly in the EPIDERMIS, but also in the eyes and the hair, by a process called melanogenesis. Coloration can be altered by the number of melanocytes or the amount of pigment produced and stored in the organelles called MELANOSOMES. The large non-mammalian melanin-containing cells are called MELANOPHORES.
  NLM Medical Subject Headings
  U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
• Melanocyte, specialized skin cell that produces the protective skin-darkening pigment melanin. Birds and mammals possess these pigment cells, which are found mainly in the epidermis, though they occur elsewhere--e.g., in the matrix of the hair. Melanocytes are branched, or dendritic, and their...
  Encyclopedia Britannica
  Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2025