The deadly toxin acrolein has a useful biological role

(RIKEN) Scientists from RIKEN in Japan have discovered that acrolein -- a toxic substance produced in cells during times of oxidative stress -- in fact may play a role in preventing the process of fibrillation, an abnormal clumping of peptides that has been associated with Alzheimer's disease and other neural diseases. The key to this new role is a chemical process known as 4+4 cycloaddition.