Brash DE et al. (2018), Chemiexcitation and Its Implications for Disease.

ECB-ART-46333

Trends Mol Med 2018 Jun 01;246:527-541. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2018.04.004.

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Chemiexcitation and Its Implications for Disease.

Brash DE , Goncalves LCP , Bechara EJH , Excited-State Medicine Working Group .

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Quantum mechanics rarely extends to molecular medicine. Recently, the pigment melanin was found to be susceptible to chemiexcitation, in which an electron is chemically excited to a high-energy molecular orbital. In invertebrates, chemiexcitation causes bioluminescence; in mammals, a higher-energy process involving melanin transfers energy to DNA without photons, creating the lethal and mutagenic cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer that can cause melanoma. This process is initiated by NO and O2- radicals, the formation of which can be triggered by ultraviolet light or inflammation. Several chronic diseases share two properties: inflammation generates these radicals across the tissue, and the diseased cells lie near melanin. We propose that chemiexcitation may be an upstream event in numerous human diseases.

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