Posted Nov 6, 2011
The warm tingle of sunshine on the skin feels so good, yet causes a chain reaction of trouble.
A professor at the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences hopes a new substance created in her lab may fend off the damage caused by the ultraviolet rays of the sun.
“It could work in a complementary way to sunscreen,” said Martha Hass, a chemist.
Hass and her team were the first to bind Vitamin E and lipoic acid — two naturally occurring antioxidants — into a single molecule that’s much more potent.
“It’s a ‘one plus one equals three’ effect,” Hass said. “Together they exhibit superior antioxidant properties.”
A quick science lesson is needed to explain how the new drug may prevent sun damage.
Atoms, the basic unit of matter, are made up of a nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. Electrons are usually magnetically paired up with another electron, but when one doesn’t have a partner, it is called a free radical. These free radicals are quick to grab another electron to gain stability. Often, they attack the nearest molecule and steal its electron, creating another free radical and triggering a domino effect that, in the human body, can lead to cell damage.
So how does the sun play into this? The sun’s ultraviolet rays hit the skin and deliver enough energy to break up molecules and create free radicals. Atoms that lose an electron are said to be oxidized. This oxidation — the same chemical process that causes an apple to turn brown and a car fender to rust — initiates the skin damage process. Over time, it causes sunburns, wrinkles, blotches and potentially skin cancer.
But there is a hero: the antioxidant. Antioxidants are molecules that can donate an electron while remaining stable.
The compound Hass and her team designed taps into the power of antioxidants. The supercharged pair of antioxidants can be absorbed into the skin where, hopefully, they will donate their electrons and stop the chain reaction.
The vitamin E and lipoic acid are eventually metabolized by the skin. “They are nontoxic and naturally occurring in the body,” Hass said.
Regular sunscreen simply blocks UV rays — like putting a sheet over your body so the skin does not get exposed to the sun’s rays — but Hass envisions adding her compound to traditional sunscreen to improve its effectiveness.
So far, the drug works in a test tube, but its effectiveness on the skin is untested.
Hass and her team received a three-year, $454,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop and test it. She is working with Luciana Lopes, a fellow professor at the pharmacy college, and Dr. J. Andrew Carlson, a professor and pathodermatologist at Albany Medical College.
If successful, the compound may have potential use in cosmetics and preventing other skin diseases, Hass said.
Reach Crowley at 454-5348 or ccrowley@timesunion.com.
©2011 Times Union (Albany, N.Y.)