Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of free radicals and catalytic metal ions in human disease. The importance of transition metal ions in mediating oxidant damage naturally leads to the question as to what forms of such ions might be available to catalyze radical reactions in vivo . The chapter discusses the metabolism of transition metals, such as iron and copper. It also discusses the chelation therapy that is an approach to site-specific antioxidant protection. The detection and measurement of lipid peroxidation is the evidence most frequently cited to support the involvement of free radical reactions in toxicology and in human disease. A wide range of techniques is available to measure the rate of this process, but none is applicable to all circumstances. The two most popular are the measurement of diene conjugation and the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) test, but they are both subject to pitfalls, especially when applied to human samples. The chapter also discusses the essential principles of the peroxidation process. When discussing lipid peroxidation, it is essential to use clear terminology for the sequence of events involved; an imprecise use of terms such as initiation has caused considerable confusion in the literature. In a completely peroxide-free lipid system, first chain initiation of a peroxidation sequence in a membrane or polyunsaturated fatty acid refers to the attack of any species that has sufficient reactivity to abstract a hydrogen atom from a methylene group.

Role of free radicals and catalytic metal ions in human disease: an overview.

Methods available for the measurement of antioxidant capacity are reviewed, presenting the general chemistry underlying the assays, the types of molecules detected, and the most important advantages and shortcomings of each method. This overview provides a basis and rationale for developing standardized antioxidant capacity methods for the food, nutraceutical, and dietary supplement industries. From evaluation of data presented at the First International Congress on Antioxidant Methods in 2004 and in the literature, as well as consideration of potential end uses of antioxidants, it is proposed that procedures and applications for three assays be considered for standardization: the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, the Folin-Ciocalteu method, and possibly the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assay. ORAC represent a hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reaction mechanism, which is most relevant to human biology. The Folin-Ciocalteu method is an electron transfer (ET) based assay and gives reducing capacity, which has normally been expressed as phenolic contents. The TEAC assay represents a second ET-based method. Other assays may need to be considered in the future as more is learned about some of the other radical sources and their importance to human biology.

https://faculty.missouri.edu/~glaserr/3700s14/Antioxidant-Capacity_jf0502698.pdf

Standardized Methods for the Determination of Antioxidant Capacity and Phenolics in Foods and Dietary Supplements

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. The ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assay is a recently developed, direct test of “total antioxidant power.” The FRAP assay is robust, sensitive, simple, and speedy and facilitates experimental and clinical studies investigating the relationship among antioxidant status, dietary habits, and risk of disease. Measurement of the total antioxidant power of fresh biological fluids—such as blood plasma—can be measured directly; the antioxidant content of various dietary agents can be measured objectively and reproducibly and their potential for improving the antioxidant status of the body investigated and compared. The FRAP assay is also sensitive and analytically precise enough to be used in assessing the bioavailability of antioxidants in dietary agents to help monitor longitudinal changes in antioxidant status associated with an increased intake of dietary antioxidants and to investigate the effects of disease on antioxidant status.

Ferric reducing/antioxidant power assay: direct measure of total antioxidant activity of biological fluids and modified version for simultaneous measurement of total antioxidant power and ascorbic acid concentration

1. A new method has been developed for measuring the total antioxidant capacity of body fluids and drug solutions, based on the absorbance of the ABTS.+ radical cation. 2. An automated method for use on a centrifugal analyser, as well as a manual method, is described. 3. The procedure has been applied to physiological antioxidant compounds and radical-scavenging drugs, and an antioxidant ranking was established based on their reactivity relative to a 1.0 mmol/l Trolox standard. 4. The Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity of plasma from an adult reference population has been measured, and the method optimized and validated. 5. The method has been applied to investigate the total plasma antioxidant capacity of neonates and how this may be compromised in prematurity.

A Novel Method for Measuring Antioxidant Capacity and its Application to Monitoring the Antioxidant Status in Premature Neonates

This review focuses on the role of oxidative processes in atherosclerosis and its resultant cardiovascular events. There is now a consensus that atherosclerosis represents a state of heightened oxidative stress characterized by lipid and protein oxidation in the vascular wall. The oxidative modification hypothesis of atherosclerosis predicts that low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation is an early event in atherosclerosis and that oxidized LDL contributes to atherogenesis. In support of this hypothesis, oxidized LDL can support foam cell formation in vitro, the lipid in human lesions is substantially oxidized, there is evidence for the presence of oxidized LDL in vivo, oxidized LDL has a number of potentially proatherogenic activities, and several structurally unrelated antioxidants inhibit atherosclerosis in animals. An emerging consensus also underscores the importance in vascular disease of oxidative events in addition to LDL oxidation. These include the production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species by vascular cells, as well as oxidative modifications contributing to important clinical manifestations of coronary artery disease such as endothelial dysfunction and plaque disruption. Despite these abundant data however, fundamental problems remain with implicating oxidative modification as a (requisite) pathophysiologically important cause for atherosclerosis. These include the poor performance of antioxidant strategies in limiting either atherosclerosis or cardiovascular events from atherosclerosis, and observations in animals that suggest dissociation between atherosclerosis and lipoprotein oxidation. Indeed, it remains to be established that oxidative events are a cause rather than an injurious response to atherogenesis. In this context, inflammation needs to be considered as a primary process of atherosclerosis, and oxidative stress as a secondary event. To address this issue, we have proposed an "oxidative response to inflammation" model as a means of reconciling the response-to-injury and oxidative modification hypotheses of atherosclerosis.

Role of Oxidative Modifications in Atherosclerosis

The relative contributions of vitamin E, urate, ascorbate and proteins to the total peroxyl radical-trapping antioxidant activity of human blood plasma.

Considerations sur les difficultes de mesures de la cinetique d'autooxydation. Cas de l'autooxydation de linoleique dans des micelles de laurysulfate de sodium et de l'autooxydation des couches multimoleculaires de dilinoleoyl phosphatidylcholine

Autoxidation of micelles and model membranes. Quantitative kinetic measurements can be made by using either water-soluble or lipid-soluble initiators with water-soluble or lipid-soluble chain-breaking antioxidants

Autoxidation of dilinoleoylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC) bilayers photoinitiated by benzophenone takes place by a free radical chain mechanism according to product studies of the cis, trans and trans, trans-9- and -13-linoleate hydroperoxides formed and kinetic studies of the reaction order as a function of light intensity. The absolute rate constant for hydrogen abstraction from DLPC bilayers by peroxyl radicals is found to be 36.1 M−1 s−1 at 37 °C. Preliminary measurements of activities of phenolic antioxidants, α-tocopherol (α-T), 2,2,5,7,8-pentamethyl-6-hydroxychroman (PMHC), 2,5,7,8-tetramethyl-6-hydroxychroman-2-carboxylate (Trolox), and 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (BHT) by oxygen uptake studies during inhibition periods using photoinitiation gave uncorrected inhibition rate constants, Kinh, for α-T, PMHC, and Trolox several orders of magnitude lower than observed earlier in chlorobenzene. Three series of phenolic antioxidants, (a) polyalkyl-6-hydroxychromans, (b) polyalkyl-4-methoxyphenols, and (...

The antioxidant activities of phenolic antioxidants in free radical peroxidation of phospholipid membranes

A study was made of the effect of the inhibitors ascorbic acid (C), α-tocopherol (E), and 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethyl-chroman-2-carboxylate (Trolox, T) on the autoxidation of linoleic acid in 0.5...

Autoxidation in micelles. Synergism of vitamin C with lipid-soluble vitamin E and water-soluble Trolox

The kinetics of thermally (30 °C) initiated autoxidations of unsaturated lipids, linoleic acid, and methyl linoleate are studied in 0.50 M sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelles. The rate of chain initiation, R1, was controlled by using known amounts of the thermal initiator, di-tert-butylhyponitrite (DBHN). The initiator efficiency, e, determined by the induction period method with x-tocopherol, was 0.30 for linoleic acid and varied (0.30 to 0.36) for methyl linoleate autoxiation as the concentration of the ester increased. The rate of autoxidation of linoleic acid follows the classical rate law since it is proportional to the substrate concentration and to the square root of chain initiation. The oxidizability of linoleic acid measured in micelles is 4.09 × 10−2 M−1/2 s−1/2. The oxidizability of methyl linoleate varied from 2.37 × 10−2 to 6.92 × 10−2 M−1/2 s−1/2 as the amount of solubilized ester increased. The latter results are indicative of pooling of the ester in the micellar phase. Additions of aque...

L. R. C. Barclay

Papers

The relative contributions of vitamin E, urate, ascorbate and proteins to the total peroxyl radical-trapping antioxidant activity of human blood plasma.

Autoxidation of micelles and model membranes. Quantitative kinetic measurements can be made by using either water-soluble or lipid-soluble initiators with water-soluble or lipid-soluble chain-breaking antioxidants

The antioxidant activities of phenolic antioxidants in free radical peroxidation of phospholipid membranes

Autoxidation in micelles. Synergism of vitamin C with lipid-soluble vitamin E and water-soluble Trolox

The autoxidation of unsaturated lipids in micelles. Synergism of inhibitors vitamins C and E