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Evolutionary Aspects of Indoleamines As Radical Scavengers

Presence and Photocatalytic Turnover of Indoleamines in a Unicell, Gonyaulax polyedra

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Recent Advances in Tryptophan Research

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 398))

Abstract

Indolic compounds can act as potent radical scavengers, a finding which has been particularly well studied in the case of melatonin and which has led to the conclusion that this function may be of physiological relevance, in addition to the roles of indolecamines in signaling (Reiter et al., 1993, 1994; Hardeland etal., 1993; Hardeland and Rodriguez, 1995). Among substances which are capable of terminating radical reaction chains, melatonin is the most efficient hydroxyl radical scavenger found to date in biological material (Tan et al., 1993). Along with the observation that melatonin accumulates in nuclei of various cell types (Menendez-Pelaez et al., 1993; Menendez-Pelaez and Reiter, 1993), this property suggests a protective role at DNA level.

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© 1996 Plenum Press, New York

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Hardeland, R. et al. (1996). Evolutionary Aspects of Indoleamines As Radical Scavengers. In: Filippini, G.A., Costa, C.V.L., Bertazzo, A. (eds) Recent Advances in Tryptophan Research. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 398. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0381-7_44

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0381-7_44

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-8026-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0381-7

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