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Protective Role of Phytochemicals Against UVR

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Abstract

Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a known environmental skin aggressor and main causative agent of most types of skin cancer. Skin is the physiological barrier that defends against both pathogens and chemical/physical damage. Sunlight exposure to skin may cause cellular oxidative damage and mutilation of antioxidant machinery. UVR is the key element responsible for photoageing. Photoprotection is therefore essential to avoid such undesired instances of UVR. In day to day life, the use of sunscreens has come up as the best photoprotective prerequisite. Apart from the sunscreens, special emphasis is on the use of chemicals of natural origin having photoshielding, antioxidant, radical scavenging or repair properties. Key classes of beneficial phytochemicals include phenolic acids, flavonoids, polyphenols, tea polyphenols, curcumin, resveratrol, etc. These phytochemicals are able to modulate apoptotic machinery (Bax, Caspase-3, Caspase-9, APAF-1) towards cell survival pathways (Bcl-2, PI3/AKT, mitogen-activated kinases). Several studies of medical importance have revealed that phytochemicals proceed through several molecular and cellular mechanisms to impediment or check photocarcinogenesis and photoageing. Therefore, it is very much needed to explore more photoprotective phytochemicals and understand their molecular mechanism to prevent UVR-induced damage.

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Acknowledgements

KC Gupta thanks the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, India, for awarding Dr. A.S. Paintal Distinguished Scientist Chair at CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Photobiology Laboratory, Systems Toxicology and Health Risk Assessment Group, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Deepti Chopra, Jyoti Singh, Ajeet Kumar Srivastav, Divya Dubey & Ratan Singh Ray

  2. Babu Banarasi Das University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Deepti Chopra, Ajeet Kumar Srivastav & Divya Dubey

  3. Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, New Delhi, India

    Jyoti Singh & Ratan Singh Ray

  4. CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, India

    Kailash Chand Gupta

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  1. Deepti Chopra
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  2. Jyoti Singh
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  4. Divya Dubey
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  5. Ratan Singh Ray
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Ratan Singh Ray

  2. Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Chandana Haldar

  3. Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Ashish Dwivedi

  4. Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO, USA

    Neeraj Agarwal

  5. Photobiology Division, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Jyoti Singh

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Chopra, D., Singh, J., Srivastav, A.K., Dubey, D., Ray, R.S., Gupta, K.C. (2018). Protective Role of Phytochemicals Against UVR. In: Ray, R., Haldar, C., Dwivedi, A., Agarwal, N., Singh, J. (eds) Photocarcinogenesis & Photoprotection. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5493-8_12

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