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Towards a ''free radical theory of graying'': melanocyte apoptosis in the aging human hair follicle is an indicator of oxidative stress induced tissue damage. FASEB J 20:1567-9 Commo S, Gaillard O, Thibaut S et al. (2004) Absence of TRP-2 in melanogenic melanocytes of human hair. Pigment Cell Res 17:488-97 Gunn DA, Rexbye H, Griffiths CE et al. (2009) Why some women look young for their age. PLoS One 4:e8021 Michard Q, Commo S, Rocchetti J et al. (2008) TRP-2 expression protects HEK cells from dopamine-and hydroquinone-induced toxicity. Free Radic Biol Med 45:1002-10 Nishimura EK, Granter SR, Fisher DE (2005) Mechanisms of hair graying: incomplete melanocyte stem cell maintenance in the niche. Science 307:720-4 Pawelek JM, Lerner AB (1978) 5,6-Dihydroxyindole is a melanin precursor showing potent cytotoxicity. Nature 276:626-8 Pelle E, Mammone T, Maes D et al. (2005) Keratinocytes act as a source of reactive oxygen species by transferring hydrogen peroxide to melanocytes.

Recent advances in medicine, intensive care and diagnostic imaging modalities have led to a pronounced reduction in deaths and disability resulting from traumatic brain injury. However, there are not sufficient findings to evaluate and quantify the severity of the initial and secondary processes destructive and therefore there are not effective therapeutic measures to effectively predict the outcome. For this reason, in recent decades, researchers and clinicians have focused on specific markers of cellular brain injury to improve the diagnosis and the evaluation of outcome. Many proteins synthesized in the astroglia cells or in the neurons, such as neuron-specific enolase, S100 calcium binding protein B, myelin basic protein, creatine kinase brain isoenzyme, glial fibrillary acidic protein, plasma desoxyribonucleic acid, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase-L1, have been proposed as potential markers for cell damage in central nervous system. Usually, the levels of these proteins increase following brain injury and are found in increasing concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid depending on the injury magnitude, and can also be found in blood stream because of a compromised blood-brain barrier. In this review, we examine the various factors that must be taken into account in the search for a reliable non-invasive biomarkers in traumatic brain injury and their role in the diagnosis and outcome evaluation.

Neurodegenerative diseases are a group of chronic, progressive disorders characterized by the gradual loss of neurons in several areas of the central nervous system (CNS). Substantial evidence has documented a common inflammatory mechanism in neurodegeneration. It is known that classical anti-inflammatory agents, steroids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, have not played a major role in the management of CNS inflammatory conditions. This may be partly due to the natural compartmentation of the brain by the blood-brain barrier. Thus, there is much interest in developing novel anti-inflammatory drugs that may help to prevent or ameliorate CNS inflammation. Resveratrol (RSV) has received considerable attention over the last several decades. Experimental studies have revealed its benefits in several human disease models, including cardio- and neuro-protection, immune regulation and cancer chemoprevention. The broad action spectrum of RSV is explained by the involvement of numerous signaling networks and cellular effector mechanisms. Among them, apoptotic and antioxidant targets have been implicated. Recently, also anti-neuroinflammatory activity has been observed. A number of studies demonstrated that RSV mediates the downregulation of various inflammatory biomarkers such as tumor necrosis factor, cyclooxygenase 2, inducible nitric oxide synthase and interleukins. This activity seems to depend on some structural features of RSV such as the number and the position of hydroxyl groups. In this review, a comprehensive account of multiple intracellular RSV targets involved in neuroinflammation and its analogues design will be treated, pointing to structure/activity relationships.