Abstract
Living organisms are known to respond to various types of environmental stress factors. The response is observed when the magnitude of stress exceeds a minimum amount called threshold. However during the past few decades, response of the living organisms below the threshold came to the purview of the scientists. Some stress factors are found to elicit a biphasic response viz, stimulation at low dose and inhibition at high dose. The phenomenon called hormesis plays a crucial role in the acclimatization of organisms to the environment. Physical and chemical factors that elicit hormetic type responses are called hormetins. The importance of some chemicals that mimic the effect of hormetins in therapeutics is beginning to be understood.
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Acknowledgements
The author feels thankful to Mr P.Divakar, retired Scientist incharge, Library and documentation, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR), Hyderabad and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR), Hyderabad for some papers and articles required for this article.
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The author, a retired scientist, was working on stress response in bacteria at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR), Hyderabad, India before superannuation.
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Chattopadhyay, M.K. Hormesis: A Fundamental Concept in Biology. Reson 27, 1903–1912 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-022-1488-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-022-1488-x