title: Raman microspectroscopy of melanosomes: the effect of long term light irradiation.
abstract: Melanosomes are long lived organelles in retinal pigment epithelium cells and are primarily responsible for photoprotection. However, with aging or prolong light radiation, the function of melanosomes diminishes, which may be due to photobleaching of melanin pigments present in melanosomes. In this study, melanosomes were isolated from the retinal pigment epithelium cells and exposed to green light (532 nm), and the chemical changes were monitored using Raman microspectroscopy. Photochemical changes were recorded for different power levels and exposure times. The threshold power and the rate for irreversible photobleaching of melanosomes were calculated by fitting the experimental data with a proposed model.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, 2085 Adelbert Road, OH 44106, USA. anushree.saha@case.edu
authors.forename: Anushree
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.forename: Rajan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.forename: Vladislav V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Yakovlev
authors.forename: Janice M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Burke
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D002458:Cell Fractionation; D007700:Kinetics; D008027:Light / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008543:Melanins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000528:radiation effects; D020460:Melanosomes / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D008954:Models, Biological; D038761:Photobleaching; D055213:Retinal Pigment Epithelium / Q000166:cytology; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods*; D034421:Sus scrofa
chemical_list: D008543:Melanins