Authors: Debashree Ghosh
Published: 2020-10-12
DOI: 10.1002/wcms.1505
Source: Full article
AbstractEumelanin is the active ingredient in skin pigment found in human beings. It is also present in animals, plants, and some bacteria and fungi. However, there are still open questions about its biological activity. The detailed molecular mechanism of its photoprotective property is topic of intense research. While it has been implicated in photo‐damage in certain conditions, the extent of this effect is largely unknown. Furthermore, its involvement in a wide range of metal chelation and radical scavenging properties remain unclear. This rather sparse knowledge about such as important biological system is mainly due to the extreme level of heterogeneity in eumelanin structure, its low solubility, and lack of unique structural features. Due to these difficulties theoretical studies and modeling appear to be a crucial cornerstone towards the understanding of eumelanin system. This review aims to report the current status of the understanding in molecular mechanism of photoprocesses in eumelanin and the theoretical approaches that are used for that. Furthermore, the outstanding open questions and difficulties in understanding the eumelanin system will be dealt with.This article is categorized under: