Volume 3, Issue 1 (2008) | American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology

Special Issue on HORMESIS

Kenneth I. Maynard — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.1.3

Hormesis is defined as

Hormetic Triggers for Intervention in Aging, Disease and Trauma

Joan Smith Sonneborn — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.4.13

Hormesis refers to the ability of a chemical or physical agent to condition the physiological state of an organism to tolerate stress with low doses of otherwise harmful agents. Evolutionary evidence ...

Life Extension by Anti-Aging Drugs: Hormetic Explanation?

A.M. Vaiserman — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.14.18

A number of chemicals including antioxidants, vitamins and hormones are widely advertised as anti-aging drugs (geroprotectors). It is usually believed that life-extending capacity of geroprotectors ma...

tNOX (ENOX2) Target for Chemosensitization-Low-Dose Responses in the Hormetic Concentration Range

D. James Morre — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.19.29

An emerging concept of cancer chemotherapy is that of chemosensitization. Most often applied to the treatment of drug-resistance cancers, chemosensitization has utility when such cancers are rendered ...

Hormetic Interventions in Aging

Suresh I.S. Rattan — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.30.43

Single or multiple exposure to low doses of potentially harmful agents can have a variety of anti-aging and longevity-extending hormetic effects. These hormetic stressors include irradiation, physical...

Hormesis and Exercise: How the Cell Copes with Oxidative Stress

Li Li Ji — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.44.58

Contraction-induced production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species has been shown to cause oxidative stress to skeletal muscle, heart and other organs. As an adaptive response, muscle antioxidant ...

Hormesis: Principles and Applications for Pharmacology and Toxicology

Edward J. Calabrese — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.59.71

The present assessment places hormetic dose responses within an historical context, documenting its origin, rejection by the biomedical community during the early decades of the 20th due to its close ...

Behavioral, Physiological and Biochemical Hormetic Responses to the Autoxidizable Dye Methylene Blue

Aleksandra K. Bruchey — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.72.79

The goals of this review were to identify methylene blue (MB) as a compound that follows hormetic behavior for a wide range of effects and to address the question of what is unique about MB that could...

A Mathematical Modeling Approach to Characterize Hormesis, Caloric Restriction and Toxicity in Mortality Data from Toxicity Studies

Patricia J. Neafsey — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.80.92

The mortality of a population reflects the combined effects of natural aging with environmental insults (e.g. toxicant exposure, caloric restriction, over feeding, infections, etc.). No single endpoin...

Cancer may be caused by the Immune Reaction

Richmond T. Prehn — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.93.99

Hormesis-like effects of immunity have been documented during tumor-growth experiments in mice, quantitatively large immune-reactions have inhibited while lesser quantities of the same specific immune...

Elucidating the Mechanism(s) of Hormesis at the Cellular Level: The Universal Cell Response

Paul S. Agutter — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.100.110

Many environmental stressors elicit biphasic effects from single cells. Such cellular hormesis may be interpreted in terms of (a) the superimposition of simple biochemical processes or (b) the non-spe...

Hormetic and Non-Hormetic Dose-Response Functions in Stress Effects on Memory and Synaptic Plasticity: Issues and Mechanisms

Phillip R. Zoladz — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.111.124

Over a century of behavioral research has shown that stress can exert both positive and negative effects on memory. We have explored the idea that the complex effects of stress on learning and memory ...

On the Hormetic Behaviour of Drugs Binding to Different Redox States of Amine Oxidase Enzymes

Deepak Narang — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.125.136

Classical monoamine oxidases and copper-containing semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidases are drug targets for a variety of established and novel pharmaceuticals used to treat conditions such as depre...

Three Mild Stresses Known to Increase Longevity in Drosophila melanogaster Flies do not Increase Resistance to Oxidative Stress

Éric Le Bourg — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.137.143

Exposure to a mild stress at a young age (hypergravity, cold or heat) increases longevity and resistance to heat shocks in Drosophila melanogaster flies and it may also delay behavioral aging and incr...

Micronutrients, Hormesis and the Aptitude for the Maturation of Regulation

Jaap C. Hanekamp — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.144.151

The potential of hormesis as the default model to assess and manage chemicals is considered in relation to micronutrients. It is pointed out that micronutrients, despite their well-known U-shaped dose...

What is Xenohormesis?

Joseph A. Baur — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.152.159

Polyphenols such as resveratrol and quercetin, which are produced by stressed plants, activate sirtuin enzymes and extend the lifespan of fungi and animals, ostensibly by mimicking the beneficial effe...

Neuroprotection Afforded by GABA Against Oxygen-Glucose Deprivation-Induced Injury in Rat Cortical Brain Slices: An Hormetic Dose-Response Effect

Lorenzo Ricci — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.160.167

The aim of the present investigation was to assess neuroprotection exerted by GABA (100 nM-100 mM) in rat cortical brain slices subjected to oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation. Neuronal inju...

An Ethical Appraisal of Hormesis: Towards a Rational Discourse on the Acceptability of Risks and Benefits

Ortwin Renn — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.168.184

It is ethically mandated that potential beneficial aspects of low exposure to potentially hazardous material are incorporated in the risk-benefit balancing procedure. The potential harm done by pollut...

Following the Heart: The History of the J-Curve in Stroke Risk

Shoshana Reshef — 2008-03-31

American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Published online: 31 March 2008; doi:10.3844/ajptsp.2008.185.192

Reports of a J-shaped relationship between blood pressure and ischemic stroke are rare. The purpose of this study was to trace the published history of the J-curve theory as it relates to blood press...