Excited states and free radicals are involved in the normal physiology of living systems; in pathologtical processes, including lipid peroxidation, inflammation, Parkinson's disease, cancer and ageing; in the mechanism of the action of drugs, such as the quinone antihumour agents and in photochemotherapies, such as the PUVA therapy of skin diseases and PDT of cancer. The chief aim of this text is to introduce the reader to this rapidly expanding field which lies at the borderline of physics, chemistry, biology, pharmacology and medicine, and, in particular, to explore how time-resolved spectroscopic methods have found solutions at the molecular level to biological and medical problems. In the first three chapters, the nature of excited states and free radicals, and the fast kinetic and spectroscopic techniques for their study are described. Amongst the biological areas described in the subsequent chapters are: activated oxygen species, DNA, proteins, carotenoids and photosynthetic reaction centres, photodermatology and melanogenesis, and aspects of cancer related to radio-, chemo- and photodynamic therapy.
Excited states and free radicals are involved in the normal physiology of living systems; in pathologtical processes, including lipid peroxidation, inflammation, Parkinson's disease, cancer and ageing; in the mechanism of the action of drugs, such as the quinone antihumour agents and in photochemotherapies, such as the PUVA therapy of skin diseases and PDT of cancer. The chief aim of this text is to introduce the reader to this rapidly expanding field which lies at the borderline of physics, chemistry, biology, pharmacology and medicine, and, in particular, to explore how time-resolved spectroscopic methods have found solutions at the molecular level to biological and medical problems. In the first three chapters, the nature of excited states and free radicals, and the fast kinetic and spectroscopic techniques for their study are described. Amongst the biological areas described in the subsequent chapters are: activated oxygen species, DNA, proteins, carotenoids and photosynthetic reaction centres, photodermatology and melanogenesis, and aspects of cancer related to radio-, chemo- and photodynamic therapy.
1: Light and ionizing radiation: generation of excited states and
radicals
2: Nature and reactivity of excited states and radicals
3: Pulsed radiation techniques: flash photolysis and pulse
radiolysis
4: Activated forms of oxygen
5: Pyrimidines, purines, and nucleic acids
6: Amino acids, peptides, and proteins
7: Carotenoids
8: Melanogenesis and melanoma
9: Photodermatology
10: Cancer: radiotherapy
11: Cancer: Chemotherapy
12: Cancer: Photodynamic therapy (PDT)
'I recommend this book to both specialists and non-specialists who
are interested in knowing more about the molecular basis of
biological problems: it is comprehensive, easy to read and
competitively priced. The authors should be commended, in my
opinion, in having achieved their goal, on the whole, of preparing
a text which should be useful to students, research scientists and
clinicians who are interested in gaining a deeper appreciation of
the molecular
aspects of biological problems.'
Peter O'Neill, Melanoma Research, Vol. 4, 1994
`contains a considerable amount of useful information ... It is
well written ... very pleasant and interesting to read ...
Students, researchers, and also physicians ... will find
competently written introductions to the field, a large amount of
interesting information, both on basic research and applications,
and a detailed bibliography.'
Ester Oliveros and André M. Braun, Universität Karlsruhe, Journal
of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 26 (1994) 103
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