Protective Effects of Melatonin on the Skin: Future Perspectives Rusanova Rusanova, Iryna Acuña Castroviejo, Darío Escames Rosa, Germaine Skin Melatonin Mitochondria Oxidative stress Aging When exposed to hostile environments such as radiation, physical injuries, chemicals, pollution, and microorganisms, the skin requires protective chemical molecules and pathways. Melatonin, a highly conserved ancient molecule, plays a crucial role in the maintenance of skin. As human skin has functional melatonin receptors and also acts as a complete system that is capable of producing and regulating melatonin synthesis, melatonin is a promising candidate for its maintenance and protection. Below, we review the studies of new metabolic pathways involved in the protective functions of melatonin in dermal cells. We also discuss the advantages of the topical use of melatonin for therapeutic purposes and skin protection. In our view, endogenous intracutaneous melatonin production, together with topically-applied exogenous melatonin and its metabolites, represent two of the most potent defense systems against external damage to the skin. 2019-12-05T13:00:52Z 2019-12-05T13:00:52Z 2019-10-08 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Rusanova, I., Martínez-Ruiz, L., Florido, J., Rodríguez-Santana, C., Guerra-Librero, A., Acuña-Castroviejo, D., & Escames, G. (2019). Protective Effects of Melatonin on the Skin: Future Perspectives. International journal of molecular sciences, 20(19), 4948. http://hdl.handle.net/10481/58222 10.3390/ijms20194948 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI