Function of skin pigment

Melanin is a naturally produced polymer found in a multitude of locations in the body, from the eye and ear, to the brain and skin. Each different location contains a different variety of melanin, such as neuromelanin in the brain, and eumelanin and pheomelanin in the skin. The functions of most of the melanins found in biology are not fully understood, except for melanin found in the skin, known as eumelanin or pheomelanin. Although the structures and the exact formation pathways of both skin melanins are not very well understood, mechanisms have been suggested (Figure 1). The chemical structure of the different forms of melanin in the skin has proven difficult to analyze due to the properties of the molecule. They are found to be insoluble, amorphous, and cannot be studied as a solution or in crystal form. To overcome these frustrating properties, a partial degradation process has been used to study the separate components of each melanin structure. Figure 1. Absorption spectrum of melanin against specific wavelengths of incident radiation. It is known that both melanins are synthesized at the bottom of the epidermis (top layer of the skin), in a region termed the basal layer. Special cells located…