文摘
Melanins are biological pigments found throughout the animal kingdom that have many diverse functions. Pump鈥損robe imaging can differentiate the two kinds of melanins found in human skin, eumelanin and pheomelanin, the distributions of which are relevant to the diagnosis of melanoma. The long-term stability of the melanin pump鈥損robe signal is central to using this technology to analyze melanin distributions in archived tissue samples to improve diagnostic procedures. This report shows that most of the pump鈥損robe signal from eumelanin derived from a Jurassic cephalopod is essentially identical to that of eumelanin extracted from its modern counterpart, Sepia officinalis. However, additional classes of eumelanin signals found in the fossil reveal that the pump鈥損robe signature is sensitive to iron content, which could be a valuable tool for pathologists who cannot otherwise know the microscopic distributions of iron in melanins.
Keywords:
eumelanin; nonlinear spectroscopy; melanoma; microscopy; iron; pigment