The spectrophotometric investigations of carotenoids and haemoproteins in living cells

The microspectrophotometric technique was applied for in vivo investigation of Cladocera pigmented cells and tissues. It was shown that the visible co loration of Cladocera cells and tissues results from the combination of abs orption bands of myoglobin, carotenoids and carotene proteins with various intensities. The absorption spectrum of Cladocera egg carotene protein, ovo verdin, in vivo contains a single absorption band with a maximum at about 6 50 nm. The polyfunctionality of carotenoids and related chemical subclassif ication of carotenoids are discussed.