Responses to sunlight of human skin

Introduction
Exposure to sunlight can have both beneficial and harmful effects on the human
body, depending on The lenght Ana frequency of exposure, The intensif of The
sunlight, Ana The sensitivitas of The individual concered. For Light to interact
with any material, it needs do be absorbed. Once the light is absorbed, it raises
the absorbing molecule to na excited state. The excited molecule may then
produce photoproducts that may initiate biochemical reactions.
The skin reaction to sunlight Thar we are most familiar with is sunburn. A
sunburn reaction, observed 8-24 hours after exposure, may include erythema
(redness), edema (swelling), blistering, pain, and delayed pigmentation, with the
intensity of the reaction being proportional to the lenght of exposure. A whole
body sunburn experience will result in burning, stinging, pain, and possibly
sunstroke (including headache, stomach upset, and in severe cases vomiting).
Ligher pigmented individuals are more likely to experience a sunburn reaction
the first time they are exposed to sun after the winter month. While sunburn is
associated with light-skinned individuals, it is also experienced by dark-skinned
individuals upon exposure to adequate doses of sunlight. The onlu difference is
that the erythema (redness) that follows may be difficult to perceive under
native pigment. The sensations of sunburn are similar for dark-skinned and lightskinned individuals.
The most recognized sign of overexposure to the sun is an erythema,
which develops in six to eight hours after exposure. The intensity of the sunburn
reaction is related to the lenght of exposure. The erythema is followed by a
tanning reaction that appears three to five days after exposure. In the last 50
years a tan has been considered a symbol of well-being. In the nineteenth
century and the early part of the twentieth century people reamined out of the
sun, and a tan was a sign of the working out of doors (farmer, sailor, etc). A tan
is also considered as the bodys naural mechanism of protection to subsequent
exposure, along with epidermal thickening. While erythema is the most familiar
result of a sunburn, the cellular component of the skin responds to sunlight by
releasing proteins (cytokines), inducing an immunosuppression and a whole
cascade of cellular and molecular events.

Skin Optics
Light
Light is the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, with a wavelength
range of 400-700 nm. Ultraviolet radiation is electromagnetic radiation of
wavelengths longer than visible light, 700-40,000 nm. The UV is divided into
three ranges, UVA, UVB, and UVC (UVA: 320-400 nm; UVB: 280-320 nm; UVC:
200-280 nm). Of these ranges only UVA and UVB exist in terrestrial sunlight; all
three exist in interplanetary sunlght.
The molecules that absorb UV (UVA and UVB) radiation (chromophores) in
the include DNA, proteins, 7-dehydrocholesterol (provitamin D3), NADH
(nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), melanin, hemoglobin, and urocanic acid.

Visible light is absorbed by the chromophores melanin, hemoglobin, bilirubin, carotene, porphyrins, and water. The energy content of each photon is given by
Planks law, E = h . v, where E is the energy of each photon, h is Plancks
constant (6.6 x 10-27 erg/sec), and v the frequency (for UV photons the frequency
is in the range of 1015 Hz). The energy of each photon in the UV and visible
ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum is enough to either raise a chromophore
to an excited state or break bonds. The act of breaking chemical bonds result in
the formation of free radicals, that is, short-lived reactive species.

Penetration of Light Into Skin

Light that falls on the skin interacts with each of the skin components and is
attenuated by absorption and scattering. Absorption occurs when a photon
interacts with a chromophore, and the chromophore is thus excited to a higher
energy state; scattering occurs when a photon suffers a change in its directon of
travel by some organelle, due to a change in index of refraction. Light interact
first with the dermis after it traverses the epidermis. The penetration of light into
the skin is limited in the short wavelengths of the UV. It has been shown that
wavelenght shorter than 290 nm are very effective in producing DNA damage,
with effects limited to the upper two thirds of the epidermis. At wavelength
longer than 300 nm DNA damage is found throughout the epidermis as well as in
the dermal fibroblast and the keratinocytes of the outer root sheath of the hair
follicles. DNA damage includes cross-links that interfere with DNA replication,
such as the production of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and 6-4 photoproducts.
Absorption by proteins is the principal source of attenuated of UV radiation in the
skin. Incident radiation at about 300 nm is attenuated to 1% at a depth of 28 m
in the skin, but radiation at 400 nm is reduced to the same level at a depth of
240 m.

Action Spectrum
An action spectrum is a map of how the threshold of a biological reaction
changes in relation to the wavelenght of electromagnetic radiation that causes it.
If the desired action is the dose to produce a threshold erythema response, the
action spectrum represent the dependence of the skins sensitivity to UV
radiation on wavelength (Fig. 1.4). The action spectrum usually requires a
monochromatic source (a source capable of production single wavelenght at a
time) such as a tunable laser. The ordinate of the graph is the reciprocal of the
threshold dose to produce the action (erythema) and therefore corresponds to
sensitivity. The more sensitive the skin is to a particular wavelength, the lower
the threshold dose and the higher the value of its reciprocal.
Biological responses (end points) need not have the same mechanism of
action at all wavelenght. This end point for UV radiation-induced
neomelanogenesis (new pigment formation) is the minimum dose of UV radiation
to produce a threshold response seven days after exposture. In the UVB, pigment
formation always follows an erythema response (there is no pigment without
erythema). In the case of UVA 1 irradiation (table 1.4), pigment appears

immediately after exposure without erythema. The histology and biology of these
radiation-dependent events are quite different.

SOLAR RADIATION AND ITS BIOLOGICAL EFFECTIVENESS

The spectrum of solar radiation is modified by the atmosphere of the earth; what
reaches the surface of the earth is a continum composed of UVB, UVA, Visible,
and infrared radiation. The major modifiers of the solar spectrum in

Figure 1.4. Two erythema action spectra are plotted versus wavelenght. The
solid curve was obtained with a tunable pulsed laser and the dashed curve was
obtained with a filtered mercury-xenon are lamp, the output of which went
through a monochromator. The subjects were fair-complexioned caucasians; the
skin sites were on the back for the dashed curve and on the ventral forearm for
the solid curve. (MED-minimal erythema dose)