AI Article Synopsis
- Quantum mechanics is not commonly applied in molecular medicine, but recent findings show that melanin can undergo chemiexcitation, where an electron is excited to a higher energy level.
- Invertebrates use this process for bioluminescence, while in mammals, it leads to harmful energy transfer to DNA, creating potentially cancer-causing mutations like cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers linked to melanoma.
- The formation of harmful radicals, triggered by factors like ultraviolet light and inflammation, suggests that chemiexcitation could play a significant role in various chronic diseases by affecting cells near melanin.
Article Abstract
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 O 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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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5975183 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molmed.2018.04.004 | DOI Listing |
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