Više selektivnih liganda melanokortin receptora je poznato,[8][9][10][11] i neka sintetička jedinjenja su bila istražena kao potencijalna sredstva za dobijanje tena, i kao lekovi protiv gojaznosti. Potamnjivanje kože je prvenstveno uzrokovano MC1 stimulacijom,[12] dok su anoreksični efekti posredovani MC3 i MC4 receptorima.[13] MC1, MC3 i MC4 su široko izraženi u mozgu, i smatra se da su odgovorni za razne efekte raspoloženja i spoznaje.[14][15][16][17]
^Voisey J, Carroll L, van Daal A (2003). „Melanocortins and their receptors and antagonists”. Current Drug Targets. 4 (7): 586—97. PMID14535656. doi:10.2174/1389450033490858.
^Dores RM (2009). „Adrenocorticotropic hormone, melanocyte-stimulating hormone, and the melanocortin receptors: revisiting the work of Robert Schwyzer: a thirty-year retrospective”. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1163: 93—100. PMID19456331. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04434.x.
^Farooqi IS, Keogh JM, Yeo GS, Lank EJ, Cheetham T, O'Rahilly S (2003). „Clinical spectrum of obesity and mutations in the melanocortin 4 receptor gene”. The New England Journal of Medicine. 348 (12): 1085—95. PMID12646665. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa022050.
^Chai B, Pogozheva I, Lai Y, Li J, Neubig R, Mosberg H, Gantz I (2005). „Receptor-antagonist interactions in the complexes of agouti and agouti-related protein with human melanocortin 1 and 4 receptors”. Biochemistry. 44 (9): 3418—31. PMID15736952. doi:10.1021/bi0478704.
^Balse-Srinivasan P, Grieco P, Cai M, Trivedi D, Hruby VJ (2003). „Structure-activity relationships of gamma-MSH analogues at the human melanocortin MC3, MC4, and MC5 receptors. Discovery of highly selective hMC3R, hMC4R, and hMC5R analogues”. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 46 (23): 4965—73. PMID14584947. doi:10.1021/jm030119t.
^Wilson KR, Todorovic A, Proneth B, Haskell-Luevano C (2006). „Overview of endogenous and synthetic melanocortin peptides”. Cellular and Molecular Biology (Noisy-le-Grand, France). 52 (2): 3—20. PMID16914082.
^Kadekaro AL, Kanto H, Kavanagh R, Abdel-Malek ZA (2003). „Significance of the melanocortin 1 receptor in regulating human melanocyte pigmentation, proliferation, and survival”. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 994: 359—65. PMID12851336. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2003.tb03200.x.
^Lasaga M, Debeljuk L, Durand D, Scimonelli TN, Caruso C (2008). „Role of alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone and melanocortin 4 receptor in brain inflammation”. Peptides. 29 (10): 1825—35. PMID18625277. doi:10.1016/j.peptides.2008.06.009.
^Gonzalez PV, Schiöth HB, Lasaga M, Scimonelli TN (2009). „Memory impairment induced by IL-1beta is reversed by alpha-MSH through central melanocortin-4 receptors”. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 23 (6): 817—22. PMID19275930. doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2009.03.001.