The Role of Melanin to Dissociate Oxygen from Water to Treat Retinopathy of Prematurity

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a potentially blinding disorder thatcommonly afflicts premature infants who are born prior to 31weeks of gestation or with a bodyweight less than 1250 grams (about 2.75 pounds). Another risk factor is excessive oxygen in incubators,which can lead to blindness. A compounding factor is that survival rates for premature infantsare rising with concomitantly more cases of ROP.We have reported an unsuspected intrinsic property of melanin to dissociate water. This capabilitycan be considered an alternative treatment option for adult and neonatal diseases. It is known that exogenoussurfactant administration suppresses bronchopulmonary dysplasia and consequent death,randomized, controlled trials with various respiratory interventions did not show any significant reductionsin morbidity and mortality rates.During a descriptive study about the three leading causes of blindness in the world, the ability ofmelanin to transform light energy into chemical energy through the dissociation of water moleculewas unraveled. Initially, during 2 or 3 years; we tried to link together our findings with the widelyaccepted metabolic pathways already described in molecular pathway databases, which have beendeveloped to collect and organize the current knowledge on metabolism scattered across a multitudeof scientific evidence.The current report demonstrates the main problems that afflict premature babies withan emphasis on the growth of abnormal vessels in the retina, the explanation for which is unknownuntil date. We also reported a case of a baby who suffered digestive and respiratory problems with abrain haemorrhage that was successfully treated by laser photocoagulation. We hypothesise that mostlikely this effect was due to the melanin level and melanin itself produces oxygen via dissociatingwith water molecules.We postulate that the intrinsic effect of melanin may easily convert visible and invisiblelight into chemical energy via a water dissociation reaction similar to the one in plant’s chlorophyll,and markedly elevated with diagnosis and treatment of the complications related to premature babies.