Characterization of melanogenesis in mouse and guinea pig hair by chemical analysis of melanins and of free and bound dopa and 5-S-cysteinyldopa.

This study examined how various genotypes of coat color in mice and guinea pigs are related to the type and content of melanin and to the levels of free and protein-bound dopa and 5-S-cysteinyldopa in hair. In analysis of black, yellow, and white areas of tortoiseshell guinea pigs, the melanogenesis type was in parallel to the type and content of melanin and was correlated fairly well with the levels of melanin precursors. In mouse hair, substitution of the brown allele (bb) for black (BB) reduced the eumelanin content to 1/2 to 1/3, while it significantly increased the dopa level. The dilution (dd) gene of mice reduced the eumelanin content only slightly, while the gene for pink-eyed dilution (pp) reduced the content of eumelanin and the level of dopa to as much as 1/10. From the eumelanin/pheomelanin ratio, the melanin of brown and dilute brown mice was found to be eumelanic, while the melanin of pink-eyed dilution mice appeared to be a mixed type because of an extremely low content of eumelanin. The levels of bound dopa and 5-S-cysteinyldopa in hair were found to largely reflect the tyrosinase activity.