Human melanocytes, maintained on bovine corneal endothelium-derived extracellular matrix for at least 4 days in the absence of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and cholera toxin (CT), displayed increased tyrosinase activity when exposed to several pro-opiomelanocortin-derived (POMC) peptides. Melanocytes from 9 of 14 donors showed significantly increased tyrosinase activity after treatment with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH; mean increase 320 +/- 107 (S.E.M.)% of control, P < 0.005), while melanocytes from 8 of 13 donors increased tyrosinase in the presence of diacetyl-melanocyte stimulating hormone (di-MSH; mean increase 223 +/- 31 (S.E.M.)% of control, P < 0.005). Maximal increases in tyrosinase were seen after treatment with 10(-10) M ACTH and with 10(-6) M di-MSH. In two cell cultures which showed tyrosinase stimulation, melanin synthesis was similarly increased in the presence of added POMC peptides. PMA but not CT increased tyrosinase activity in melanocytes cultured under these conditions. In the presence of staurosporine, an inhibitor of protein kinase C (PKC), the magnitude of the increase in tyrosinase due to PMA, ACTH and di-MSH was significantly reduced. These results indicate that tyrosinase activity in melanocytes from most human donors, under appropriate conditions, is susceptible to the stimulatory effects of POMC peptides, that ACTH is considerably more potent than di-MSH in this test system and that in human cells the PKC pathway may be important in modulating melanogenesis.