Skip to main content
PMC home page
The British Journal of Ophthalmology logoLink to The British Journal of Ophthalmology
. 1987 Jul;71(7):549–552. doi: 10.1136/bjo.71.7.549

Is there any difference in the photobiological properties of melanins isolated from human blue and brown eyes?

I A Menon 1, P K Basu 1, S Persad 1, M Avaria 1, C C Felix 1, B Kalyanaraman 1
PMCID: PMC1041224  PMID: 2820463

Abstract

Investigations were carried out to determine whether the melanin present in the blue and brown eyes were eumelanin, the melanin present in black hair and dark skin, or pheomelanin, the melanin present in red hair and the skin of people with red hair. Our results showed that UV-visible irradiation of blue or brown eye melanin did not produce any superoxide. Irradiation of 51Cr-labelled Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells in the presence of blue or brown eye melanin did not produce significant cell lysis. The electron spin resonance (ESR) signals of blue and brown eye melanins were very similar to those of eumelanin. Comparison of these findings with our previous results indicated that the blue and brown eye melanins are essentially eumelanin. The ESR signals further suggested that in the case of both blue and brown eye melanins the iris, ciliary body, choroid, and retinal pigment epithelium did not differ.

Full text

PDF
549

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Dryja T. P., O'Neil-Dryja M., Albert D. M. Elemental analysis of melanins from bovine hair, iris, choroid, and retinal pigment epithelium. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1979 Mar;18(3):231–236. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Ito S., Jimbow K. Quantitative analysis of eumelanin and pheomelanin in hair and melanomas. J Invest Dermatol. 1983 Apr;80(4):268–272. doi: 10.1111/1523-1747.ep12534616. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Ito S., Novellino E., Chioccara F., Misuraca G., Prota G. Co-polymerization of dopa and cysteinyldopa in melanogenesis in vitro. Experientia. 1980 Jul 15;36(7):822–823. doi: 10.1007/BF01978591. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Jimbow K., Ishida O., Ito S., Hori Y., Witkop C. J., Jr, King R. A. Combined chemical and electron microscopic studies of pheomelanosomes in human red hair. J Invest Dermatol. 1983 Dec;81(6):506–511. doi: 10.1111/1523-1747.ep12522838. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Jimbow K., Miyake Y., Homma K., Yasuda K., Izumi Y., Tsutsumi A., Ito S. Characterization of melanogenesis and morphogenesis of melanosomes by physicochemical properties of melanin and melanosomes in malignant melanoma. Cancer Res. 1984 Mar;44(3):1128–1134. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Menon I. A., Persad S., Haberman H. F., Kurian C. J. A comparative study of the physical and chemical properties of melanins isolated from human black and red hair. J Invest Dermatol. 1983 Mar;80(3):202–206. doi: 10.1111/1523-1747.ep12534045. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Menon I. A., Persad S., Haberman H. F., Kurian C. J., Basu P. K. A qualitative study of the melanins from blue and brown human eyes. Exp Eye Res. 1982 Apr;34(4):531–537. doi: 10.1016/0014-4835(82)90025-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Menon I. A., Persad S., Ranadive N. S., Haberman H. F. Effects of ultraviolet-visible irradiation in the presence of melanin isolated from human black or red hair upon Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells. Cancer Res. 1983 Jul;43(7):3165–3169. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Menon I. A., Persad S., Ranadive N. S., Haberman H. F. Role of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide in cell lysis during irradiation in vitro of Ehrlich ascitic carcinoma cells in the presence of melanin. Can J Biochem Cell Biol. 1985 Apr;63(4):278–283. doi: 10.1139/o85-041. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Persad S., Menon I. A., Haberman H. F. Comparison of the effects of UV-visible irradiation of melanins and melanin-hematoporphyrin complexes from human black and red hair. Photochem Photobiol. 1983 Jan;37(1):63–68. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-1097.1983.tb04434.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Prota G., Thomson R. H. Melanin pigmentation in mammals. Endeavour. 1976 Jan;35(224):32–38. doi: 10.1016/0160-9327(76)90060-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sealy R. C., Hyde J. S., Felix C. C., Menon I. A., Prota G. Eumelanins and pheomelanins: characterization by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. Science. 1982 Aug 6;217(4559):545–547. doi: 10.1126/science.6283638. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Sealy R. C., Hyde J. S., Felix C. C., Menon I. A., Prota G., Swartz H. M., Persad S., Haberman H. F. Novel free radicals in synthetic and natural pheomelanins: distinction between dopa melanins and cysteinyldopa melanins by ESR spectroscopy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 May;79(9):2885–2889. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.9.2885. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Thomson R. H. The pigments of reddish hair and feathers. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 1974 May;13(5):305–312. doi: 10.1002/anie.197403051. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Wang R. J., Nixon B. R. Identification of hydrogen peroxide as a photoproduct toxic to human cells in tissue-culture medium irradiated with "daylight" fluorescent light. In Vitro. 1978 Aug;14(8):715–722. doi: 10.1007/BF02616168. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The British Journal of Ophthalmology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES