“…From these studies it is evident that excessive UV light in the near‐visible range acts in a similar way to ionizing radiation and oxidative stress, evoking numerous cellular responses that may range from mild to severe erythema to malignant transformation of dermal tissues. At the cellular level, the most important macroscopic effects observed after UV irradiation appear to be lipid peroxidation (Morliere, Moysan, Santus, Huppe, Maziere & Dubertret, 1991; Beer, Olvey, Miller, Thomas & Godar, 1993), increases in intracellular calcium concentration (Kimura, Maeda & Hayashi, 1992), loss of potassium (Cardenas, Cortes, Fernandez & Pena, 1992) and activation of protein kinases (Devary, Gottlieb, Smeal & Karin, 1992; Kasid, Suy, Dent, Ray, Whiteside & Sturgill, 1996; Verheij et al 1996). The most severe consequences are cell swelling due to sodium influx (Koliwad, Kunze & Elliott, 1996 b ) and immediate apoptotic cell death (Beer et al 1993; Godar & Lucas, 1995).…”