Antioxidant function of fungal melanin. |
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| Authors: | E S Jacobson and S B Tinnell |
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| Abstract: | Polyphenols have been implicated in the virulence and oxidant resistance of Cryptococcus neoformans. Although monomeric polyphenols did not protect against the prooxidant, plumbagin, polymeric dopamine-melanin conferred resistance both to hypochlorite and to permanganate. The physiologic antioxidant capacity conferred by melanin was found to be 21.3 x 10(-15) mole-equivalents per cell, a value which approximates oxidant production by stimulated macrophages. |
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