Pump-probe microscope imaging of Jurassic-aged eumelanin

Melanins are biological pigments found throughout the animal kingdom that have many diverse functions. Pump-probe imaging can differentiate the two kinds of melanins found in human skin, eumelanin and pheomelanin, the distributions of which are relevant to the diagnosis of melanoma. The long-term stability of melanins is central to using this technology to analyze melanin distributions in archived tissue samples to improve diagnostic procedures. This report shows that most of the pump-probe signal from eumelanin derived from a Jurassic cephalopod is is essentially identical to that of eumelanin extracted from its modern counterpart, Sepia officinalis. However, additional classes of eumelanin signals found in the fossil reveal that the pump-probe signature is sensitive to iron content, which could be a valuable tool for pathologists who cannot otherwise know the microscopic distributions of iron in melanins.