Monitoring the genotoxic potential of sunlight and DNA photoprotection of sunscreen

Abstract

The effects of climate change and ozone depletion upon solar ultraviolet radiation (UV-R) incidence, as well as the risks of sunlight exposure to human health, need to be better understood. DNA molecule has been identified as the main cellular target of solar UV-R, and the UV-induced DNA damage is considered the initiating step of important biological process, such as the development skin cancers and aging. This chapter focuses on the use of physical and biological methods to measure the solar UV-R incidence and its genotoxic potential. The sunlight’s DNA damage profiles induced at different latitudes are presented, and the use of DNA molecule as well as UV-hypersensitive human skin cells for the evaluation of sunscreen photoprotection is also discussed in the text.