noun
definition
Any of a group of naturally occurring dark pigments, especially the pigment found in skin, hair, fur, and feathers.
Examples of melanin in a Sentence
Black skin contains more melanin, which is a brown pigment.
There is no known way to help children make more melanin.
And this is the reason why some people tan faster than others - we form melanin at differing rates.
We do have melanin in our eyes but I don't think it's on the surface layer!
For example, with hair removal, the light energy is absorbed by the melanin (color) in the hair.
Sometimes described as Olive, it is pale brown thanks to its naturally high levels of protective melanin.
The melanin is present in special cells called melanocytes in the iris of the eye.
The energy from the light source is absorbed by the target chromophore (melanin) in the hair.
This way your body will not need to produce more melanin.
Skin Color The color of skin depends primarily on a pigment called melanin.
High levels of the skin pigment melanin reduce the risk of common skin cancer for people with darker skin.
Melanin is what gives the initial white hair its color.
Biologically, melanin production is controlled by the action of the enzyme tyrosinase.
They occupy and destroy the red corpuscles, converting the haemoglobin into melanin; they multiply in the blood by sporulation, and produce accessions of fever by the liberation of a toxin at the time of sporulation (Ross).
The pathological changes in malaria are due to the deposition of melanin and the detritus of red corpuscles and haemoglobin, and to the congregation of parasites in certain sites (Ross).
According to Disabled World, "hair is white and the cells in our hair follicles called Melanocytes generate pigments, the main one being Melanin."
If your hair is loaded with melanin, you'll probably have darker hair.
Actually, there is the debate of whether gray hair is really gray at all or from the loss of its melanin, simply transparent making it appear to be gray.
In addition to correcting imperfections, it softens the look of fine lines and prevents excessive melanin production (important for individuals who express concern about dark spots).
Melanoma tumors originate in the cells that produce melanin, the chemical that causes pigmentation in the skin, eyes, and hair.
Areas that have high concentrations of melanin are freckles and moles.
When you use a tanning bed or lying in the sun, your skin begins to produce melanin to protect itself from burning.
DebSpecs takes a different route, featuring a tinted plastic melanin lens that not all computer glasses have.
The melanin cuts down on the blue and violet light from computers and fluorescent lights that actually make it to your eyes.
Malignant melanoma-The most serious of the three types of skin cancer, malignant melanoma arises from the melanocytes, the skin cells that produce the pigment melanin.
Melanin also protects the body by absorbing ultraviolet light.
It is characterized by a lack of melanin, the pigment that normally gives color to the skin, hair, and eyes.
Sun exposure normally produces a tan, which is an increase in melanin pigment in the skin.
Many people with albinism do not have melanin pigment in their skin, do not tan with exposure to the sun, and as a result develop sunburn.
Melanin is also important in the eyes and brain, but it is not known what role melanin plays in those areas.
Parts of the retina do not develop correctly if melanin pigment is not present during development.
Also nerve connections between the retina and brain are altered if melanin is not present in the retina during development.
The child therefore inherits one defective gene responsible for making melanin from each parents.
Because the task of making melanin is complex, there are many different types of albinism, involving a number of different genes.
If the hair turns dark, it means the hair is making melanin (a positive test); light hair means there is no melanin.
In some types of albinism, a genetic defect in tyrosinase means that the amino acid tyrosine cannot be converted by tyrosinase into melanin.
There is no treatment that can replace the lack of melanin that causes the symptoms of albinism.
Tyrosinase-An enzyme in a pigment cell which helps change tyrosine to dopa during the process of making melanin.
It is used by the body to make melanin and several hormones, including epinephrine and thyroxin.
The light pigmentation is due to a lack of melanin, which normally colors the hair, skin, and eyes.
Melanin is made from the amino acid tyrosine, which is lacking in untreated cases of PKU.
Skin contains a protective pigment called melanin.
The darker the skin tone, the more melanin is present.
Fair-skinned people are most susceptible to sunburn, because their skin produces only small amounts of the melanin.
Brown eyes are caused by the body's production of melanin.
Melanin causes the iris of the eye to turn brown.
The more melanin there is in an eye, the darker brown the eye color.
People who produce less melanin have lighter-colored eyes.
This mutation was like a switch that had reduced the production of melanin.
The Danish blue-eyed genealogy study has led to the theory that blue eyes started with one person who had a mutation on their chromosome that shut off the production of melanin in their iris.