PHOTOCHEMISTRY and PHOTOBIOLOGY WITHOUT LIGHT

Urocanic acid photochemistry and photobiology.

Urocanic acid (2-propenoic acid, 3-[ lH-imidazol-4(5)-yl], UA)? is one of the smallest molecules to have stimulated global interest among biologists, environmentalists, photochemists, photobiologists, medicinal chemists and immunologists. Its history can be traced back more than a century to when it was first found in the urine of dogs (1). Interest in the molecule remained dormant until the mi...

Photophysiology: Current Topics in Photobiology and Photochemistry. Volume VII

Volume seven of this distinguished series includes reviews of the following topics in photobiology and photochemistry: Electron spin resonance in photosynthetic systems, by E. C. Weaver and H. E. Weaver; Photochrome, a photochromic sensor, by W. Shropshire; Photosynthetic nitrogen fixation by blue-green algae, by M. B. Allen; The role of light in nitrate metabolism in higher plants, by L. Beeve...

Microscopy beyond imaging: space-resolved photochemistry and photobiology.

Recent advances in urocanic acid photochemistry, photobiology and photoimmunology.

Urocanic acid (UCA), produced in the upper layers of mammalian skin, is a major absorber of ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Originally thought to be a 'natural sunscreen', studies conducted a quarter of a century ago proposed that UCA may be a chromophore for the immunosuppression that follows exposure to UVR. With its intriguing photochemistry, its role in immunosuppression and skin cancer develo...

Photochemistry and photobiology of actinic erythema: defensive and reparative cutaneous mechanisms.

Sunlight is part of our everyday life and most people accept it as beneficial to our health. With the advance of our knowledge in cutaneous photochemistry, photobiology and photomedicine over the past four decades, the terrestrial solar radiation has become a concern of dermatologists and is considered to be a major damaging environmental factor for our skin. Most photobiological effects (e.g.,...