Lexic.us

Definition of Melanin

1. Noun. Insoluble pigments that account for the color of e.g. skin and scales and feathers.

Definition of Melanin

1. n. A black pigment found in the pigment-bearing cells of the skin (particularly in the skin of the negro), in the epithelial cells of the external layer of the retina (then called fuscin), in the outer layer of the choroid, and elsewhere. It is supposed to be derived from the decomposition of hemoglobin.

Definition of Melanin

1. Noun. Any of a group of naturally occurring dark pigments, especially the pigment found in skin, hair, fur, and feathers. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Melanin

1. a dark pigment [n -S]

Medical Definition of Melanin

1. Pigments largely of animal origin. High molecular weight polymers of indole quinone. Colours include black/brown, yellow, red and violet. Found in feathers, cuttle ink, human skin, hair and eyes and in cellular immune responses and wound healing in arthropods. This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Melanin

Literary usage of Melanin

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Chemical Pathology: Being a Discussion of General Pathology from the by Harry Gideon Wells (1914)
"Pathologically melanin occurs chiefly as the result of an excessive production of this pigment by cells normally forming it, as in freckles, ..."

2. Studies of Inheritance in Guinea-pigs and Rats by William Ernest Castle, Sewall Wright (1916)
"melanin PIGMENT. The coat colors of mammals are largely due to granular pigments of a kind known chemically as melanin. The pigment in the hair is found ..."

3. A Text-book of the Physiological Chemistry of the Animal Body: Including an by Arthur Gamgee (1880)
"Characters melanin occurs in the form of minute amorphous and reaction granules which when suspended in water exhibit or melanin. ..."

4. A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis by Means of Microscopical and Chemical by Charles Edmund Simon (1904)
"Such urines generally contain melanin ami its chromogen in solution ; deposits of melanin granules by themselves are only occasionally seen, ..."

5. A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis by Means of Microscopic and Chemical Methods by Charles Edmund Simon (1907)
"D. Gerhardt, Zeit. f. klm. Med., 1897. vii. xxxii, p. 313. melanin and ... and finally turns black Such urines generally contain melanin and its ..."

6. A Manual of Clinical Chemistry, Microscopy, and Bacteriology by Martin Klopstock, Albert Kowarsky (1912)
"F. melanin Normal urine contains no melanin. ... Urine containing melanin is dark in color, and on standing exposed to the air becomes dark brown to black. ..."

7. Urinary Analysis and Diagnosis by Microscopical and Chemical Examination by Louis Heitzmann (1915)
"melanin is a dark pigment of slight clinical importance, and is only rarely found in urine ... The urine containing melanin is not usually dark when voided, ..."

Other Resources: