Abstract
It has been known for a long time that the melanin pigments present in normal skin, hair, and most of malignant melanomas can be detected by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometry. In this study, we used EPR imaging as a tool to map the concentration of melanin inside ex vivo human pigmented and nonpigmented melanomas and correlated this cartography with anatomopathology. We obtained accurate mappings of the melanin inside pigmented human melanoma samples. The signal intensity observed on the EPR images correlated with the concentration of melanin within the tumors, visible on the histologic sections. In contrast, no EPR signal coming from melanin was observed from nonpigmented melanomas, therefore demonstrating the absence of EPR-detectable pigments inside these particular cases of skin cancer and the importance of pigmentation for further EPR imaging studies on melanoma.
Highlights
It has been known for a long time that the melanin pigments present in normal skin, hair, and most of malignant melanomas can be detected by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometry
We recently found a correlation between the EPR signal of melanin coming from experimental melanomas and the growth stage of the tumors.[12]
On the EPR image, these three areas were linked to three areas with highly different intensities, the nonpigmented area being impossible to distinguish from the background and the highly pigmented area exhibiting the strongest intensity
Summary
It has been known for a long time that the melanin pigments present in normal skin, hair, and most of malignant melanomas can be detected by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometry. M ALIGNANT MELANOMA is a tumor characterized by the uncontrolled proliferation of melanocytes, mainly in skin and in eyes and very rarely in several other locations, such as the oral cavity, esophagus, or rectum Melanocytes get their name from the dark pigment produced within these cells: melanin (from the Greek melas meaning ‘‘dark’’); the name is generally attributed to the German chemist Berzelius.[1] melanomas generally reveal a strong pigmentation linked to a high concentration of melanin present inside the tumor melanocytes.[2,3] 2 to 8% of melanomas diagnosed contain a very low concentration or absence of melanin and are called nonpigmented or amelanotic.[4].
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