MELANOTAN

Melanotan (also called: MT, afamelanotide or melanotan 1) and Melanotan II (also called: MT II or melanotan 2) are laboratory made analogs of the melanocyte-stimulating hormone which is produced by our body (to be exactly within the pituitary gland). MT and MT 2 were developed at The Arizona University together with Arizona's Cancer Center. Melanotan is a straight, full length peptide. Melanotan 2 is a shortened, circular version of the afamelanotide peptide. MT and MT II cause sunless tanning of the human skin and MT II has libido enhancement and spontaneous erections as extra effects. The tanning effect by MT and MT 2 is more pronounced when the skin has been exposed to UV light, but tanning of the skin will also happen when the skin is not exposed to the sun/UV light.

Differences between melanotan and melanotan 2

Melanotan's peptide structure is almost the same as our endogenously produced melanocyte-stimulating hormone. MT is an agonist of the melanocortin-1 receptor (located on melanocyte cells) and when this receptor is triggered it eventually will cause tanning of the skin. MT 1 does not bind well to other receptors.

Melanotan 2 has a shorter sequence of amino acids and also has a slightly different form then melanotan 1. Because of this subtle change, binding at receptors other than the melanocortin-1 receptor is greater than that of Melanotan 1. This receptor binding on other receptors then the melanocortin-1 receptor results in some effects with MT-II usage that the user will not notice in MT1 usage. MT2 also binds to the melanocortin-3 and 4 receptors and this binding will cause increases in sexual arousal.

Which of the two is better? The answer is Melanotan 1 (afamelanotide) for the reason that MT1 causes tanning with less side effects then Melanotan 2. Because the amino acid sequence is shorter in the case of melanotan 2, there are more MT2 peptide chains available compared to MT1 on a mg for mg basis. This means that on a mg for mg basis effectively you require much less in terms of milligram weight of MT II to achieve similar results compared to MT 1. So in terms of which MT has the most bang for it's buck most users will choose Melanotan II. (See our side effect link.)

So why is melanotan not officially on the market yet? It seems that it is difficult to bring melanotan to the market because it is said that authorities are not easily willing to give approval for a medicine that will be mainly used for cosmetic reasons. If they were to allow it, then the side-effects should be acceptable compared to the cosmetic benefits. This is a moral discussion which still is to be continued by the relevant authorities. Therefore at present Clinuvel (the melanotan patent holder) will firstly develop and bring melanotan for trial for the treatment of clinical indications instead of cosmetic tanning. Clinuvel will market melanotan as afamelanotide. Clinuvel's afamelanotide aims to provide photoprotection, that is to help those who suffer from UV related skin disorders. For more info about Clinuvel's afamelanotide's clinical indications and plans to bring it to the market check out their website at http://clinuvel.com/en/faqs/ .