title: Kynurenine identified as the short-wave absorbing lens pigment in the deep-sea fish Stylephorus chordatus.
abstract: A number of deep-sea fish have bright yellow lenses whose coloration is attributable to a variety of largely unidentified short-wave absorbing pigments. Here the pigment of the deep-sea fish Stylephorus chordatus has been isolated and identified by NMR and mass spectroscopy as kynurenine; a pigment also found in the human lens. The degree of this pigmentation is greater in older animals. The fact that the lenses of both a deep-sea fish and man contain the same pigment is of interest, given the vastly different light environments they inhabit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Optometry and Visual Science, City University, London, U.K.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thorpe
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Truscott
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Douglas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology*; D007737:Kynurenine / Q000032:analysis*; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000032:analysis*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D010860:Pigments, Biological; D007737:Kynurenine