Abstract
THE melanins are of great interest because of their widespread presence in biological systems. In humans, melanin is found in nearly all areas where energy transduction occurs, for example, skin, inner ear, retina, as well as in several other areas such as the midbrain. The loss of melanin in the substantia nigra (midbrain) has been correlated with Parkinson's disease, and melanin–drug interactions in the stria vascularis (inner ear) have been implicated in deafness (ototoxicity)1–3. Study of the physical properties of the melanins has yielded considerable insight into possible functional roles in biological systems3–5, and has lead to the design of possible new treatments for the human malignant disease, melanoma, based on interactions between ultrasound and melanin binding drugs6,7. These observations have indicated that the melanins play an active, rather than passive, role in biological systems and intensive study of their properties should lead to better understanding of their functions in vivo. Such studies are also lending some insight into problems associated with the solid-state physics of amorphous materials2,5.
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MIZUTANI, U., MASSALSKI, T., McGINNESS, J. et al. Low temperature specific heat anomalies in melanins and tumour melanosomes. Nature 259, 505–507 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/259505a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/259505a0
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