Department for Life Quality Studies, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, corso d'Augusto 237, 47921 Rimini, Italy.
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Bradenton, FL 34211, USA.
Mar Drugs. 2020 Oct 30;18(11):544. doi: 10.3390/md18110544.
Every day, we come into contact with ultraviolet radiation (UVR). If under medical supervision, small amounts of UVR could be beneficial, the detrimental and hazardous effects of UVR exposure dictate an unbalance towards the risks on the risk-benefit ratio. Acute and chronic effects of ultraviolet-A and ultraviolet-B involve mainly the skin, the immune system, and the eyes. Photodamage is an umbrella term that includes general phototoxicity, photoaging, and cancer caused by UVR. All these phenomena are mediated by direct or indirect oxidative stress and inflammation and are strictly connected one to the other. Astaxanthin (ASX) and fucoxanthin (FX) are peculiar marine carotenoids characterized by outstanding antioxidant properties. In particular, ASX showed exceptional efficacy in counteracting all categories of photodamages, in vitro and in vivo, thanks to both antioxidant potential and activation of alternative pathways. Less evidence has been produced about FX, but it still represents an interesting promise to prevent the detrimental effect of UVR. Altogether, these results highlight the importance of digging into the marine ecosystem to look for new compounds that could be beneficial for human health and confirm that the marine environment is as much as full of active compounds as the terrestrial one, it just needs to be more explored.
我们每天都会接触到紫外线（UVR）。如果在医学监督下，少量的 UVR 可能是有益的，但 UVR 暴露的有害和危险影响决定了风险-效益比的不平衡。紫外线-A 和紫外线-B 的急性和慢性效应主要涉及皮肤、免疫系统和眼睛。光损伤是一个总称，包括 UVR 引起的一般光毒性、光老化和癌症。所有这些现象都通过直接或间接的氧化应激和炎症来介导，并且严格地相互关联。虾青素（ASX）和褐藻黄素（FX）是特殊的海洋类胡萝卜素，具有出色的抗氧化特性。特别是 ASX 表现出卓越的功效，能够在体外和体内对抗所有类别的光损伤，这要归功于其抗氧化潜力和激活替代途径。关于 FX 的证据较少，但它仍然是一种很有前途的预防 UVR 有害影响的化合物。总的来说，这些结果强调了深入研究海洋生态系统以寻找对人类健康有益的新化合物的重要性，并证实海洋环境与陆地环境一样充满了活性化合物，只是需要进一步探索。
