The Unsuspected Capacity of Melanin to Transform Light Energy into Chemical Energy and the Surprising Anoxia Tolerance of Chrysemys Picta

Abstract

Oxygen is considered critical to nearly all life on earth, as the end electron acceptor that makes, theoretically, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation possible, and thereby energy production. Anaerobic energy sources can only temporarily supply ATP and maintain cellular function before substrate depletion, energy shortfall, or end-product poisoning that threaten survival. In most vertebrates, the limits of anoxia tolerance are short, of the order of minutes, because of the urgent dependence (theoretically) of the heart and central nervous system on a continuous supply of O 2 . Because greater than 50% of the energy consuming processes of the normoxic cell, especially neuron can be accounted for by ion pumping, a decrease in membrane ion leakage can contribute in a major way to energy savings. Theoretically, the power to the inside of the cell depends on ATP, but in the light of our discovery of the intrinsic property of melanin transform light energy into chemical energy by means of the water molecule dissociation, we think that the levels of ATP, in turn; depend almost completely from the energy that emanates from the melanin. The purpose of discerning the ability of the painted turtle, of tolerating extended periods of anoxia, even months, will improve our understanding of the pathophysiology and progress in therapeutic strategies in diseases that can be classified as events hypoxic severely affecting human beings, such as cerebral vascular events.