Canadian Medical Guide > Chemicals and Drugs > Growth Substances, Pigments, and Vitamins > Pigments Terms and Definitions

Pigments

Medical Definition:	Any normal or abnormal coloring matter in plants, animals, or micro-organisms.
Guide Notes:	largely biol: differentiate from DYES, usually non-biol

Pigments Categories.

	Flavins
	Hemocyanin
	Melanins - Pigments causing darkness in skin, hair, feathers, etc. They are irregular polymeric structures and are divided into three groups: allomelanins in the plant kingdom and eumelanins and phaeomelanins in the animal kingdom.
	Phycocyanin - The metal-free blue phycobilin pigment in a conjugated chromoprotein of blue-green algae. It functions as light-absorbing substance together with chlorophylls.
	Phycoerythrin - The metal-free red phycobilin pigment in a conjugated chromoprotein of red algae. It functions as a light-absorbing substance together with chlorophylls.
	Phytochrome - A blue-green biliprotein widely distributed in the plant kingdom.
	Retinal Pigments - Chemicals functioning in the visual cycle in retinal rod cells. Through excitation by visible light, a series of complex molecular changes occur that serve to trigger in the optical nerve endings an impulse transmitted to the brain, resulting in the perception of vision.

Pigments Medical Definitions and Terms

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