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A luciferase assay was used to detect transcriptional activity of the MITF promoter. Western blot analysis was performed to examine SPC-induced signaling pathways.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>SPC produced significant hypopigmentation effects in a dose-dependent manner. It was found that SPC induced not only activation of Akt but also stimulation of mTOR, a downstream mediator of the Akt signaling pathway. Moreover, SPC decreased the levels of LC3 II, which is known to be regulated by mTOR. Treatment with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin eliminated decreases in melanin and LC3 II levels by SPC. Furthermore, we found that the Akt inhibitor LY294002 restored SPC-mediated downregulation of LC3 II and inhibited the activation of mTOR by SPC.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>Our data suggest that the mTOR signaling pathway is involved in SPC-modulated melanin synthesis.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/1423-0127-18-55","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2011,8,13]],"date-time":"2011-08-13T06:16:49Z","timestamp":1313216209000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["Involvement of mTOR signaling in sphingosylphosphorylcholine-induced hypopigmentation effects"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Hyo-Soon","family":"Jeong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Seung Hoon","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hye-Young","family":"Yun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kwang Jin","family":"Baek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nyoun Soo","family":"Kwon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kyoung-Chan","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dong-Seok","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2011,8,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"306_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"976","DOI":"10.1096\/fj.06-6649rev","volume":"21","author":"GE Costin","year":"2007","unstructured":"Costin GE, Hearing VJ: Human skin pigmentation: melanocytes modulate skin color in response to stress. 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