Journal
PIGMENT CELL & MELANOMA RESEARCH
Volume 31, Issue 6, Pages 673-682Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/pcmr.12707
Keywords
DHI; DHICA; eumelanins; melanogenesis; Raman spectroscopy; ROS
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Funding
- Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO) [RYC-2012-10237, SEV-2015-0522, FIS2016-80455-R]
- H2020 Framework [EU-H2020 654148]
- Fundacio la Marato de TV3 [424/C/2014]
- Fundacio Cellex Barcelona
- Generalitat de Catalunya
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Eumelanins are large polymers composed of 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI) and 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid (DHICA). Reactive oxygen species generation is higher during the synthesis of DHI than during the synthesis of DHICA; thus, the production of eumelanins with high relative DHI contents may compromise the viability of cells and organisms. Here, we show that dispersive Raman spectroscopy allows a noninvasive direct detection and quantification of DHI and DHICA in unaltered eumelanins that can be applied to the analysis of natural pigments in biological tissues. Using synthetic eumelanins purely composed of DHI or DHICA, we develop a model to determine the differential contribution of these subunits to the Raman spectra of mixed eumelanins, and exemplify the predictive capacity of the model with natural eumelanins deposited in black and gray feathers of fowl. We found that the wave-number ranges of 550-1,200 and 1,650-2,300 cm(-1) are significant to predict the DHI: DHICA ratio in unknown samples.
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