Characterisation of human hair melanin and its degradation products by means of magnetic resonance techniques

Melanin granules (MGs) have been extracted from human Chinese black hairs by either acid hydrolysis (CH-type MGs) or enzymatic digestion (CP-type MGs), and their chemical structure investigated at the solid state by means of 13C cross polarization magic angle spinning (CPMAS NMR) and EPR spectroscopy. Both types of MGs contain a large amount of protein that is tightly bound to the true melanin polymer, with CP-type MGs having a larger protein content than CH-type ones. Moreover,MGs may also contain variable amounts of lipid-likematerial. A high amount of paramagneticmetals is detected by EPR in CP-type MGs, in particular Fe(III). Iron can be bound in two chemical forms: as isolated high spin Fe(III) ionswith rhombic symmetry and as small oxy-hydroxy Fe(III) aggregates. Iron is poorly available to chelators. CH-type MGs contain much fewer metals. CP-type MGs have then been subjected to partial bleaching by hydrogen peroxide in ammonia, yielding a residual solid, called residual oxidizedmelanin (ROM) and a soluble but still pigmented fraction calledmelanin free acid (MFA). MFA can be isolated by precipitation at acidic pH. The 13C-CPMAS NMR and EPR spectra of these derivatives indicated that ROM has a structure very similar to that of parentMGs, whereas MFA shows a decrease of the protein content with respect to the melanin and a decreased amount of bound iron. Thus, the oxidative degradation of CP-type MGs is a process not involving the bulk of MGs, but rather it proceeds fromthe solvent-exposed outer parts to the interior.