scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

Oxidative stress: oxidants and antioxidants

01 Mar 1997-Experimental Physiology (Wiley/Blackwell (10.1111))-Vol. 82, Iss: 2, pp 291-295
TL;DR: These low molecular mass antioxidant molecules add significantly to the defense provided by the enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidases, which are termed ‘oxidative stress’.
Abstract: An imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants in favour of the oxidants, potentially leading to damage, is termed 'oxidative stress'. Oxidants are formed as a normal product of aerobic metabolism but can be produced at elevated rates under pathophysiological conditions. Antioxidant defense involves several strategies, both enzymatic and non-enzymatic. In the lipid phase, tocopherols and carotenes as well as oxy-carotenoids are of interest, as are vitamin A and ubiquinols. In the aqueous phase, there are ascorbate, glutathione and other compounds. In addition to the cytosol, the nuclear and mitochondrial matrices and extracellular fluids are protected. Overall, these low molecular mass antioxidant molecules add significantly to the defense provided by the enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidases.
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present review provides a brief overview on oxidative stress mediated cellular damages and role of dietary antioxidants as functional foods in the management of human diseases.
Abstract: In recent years, there has been a great deal of attention toward the field of free radical chemistry. Free radicals reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species are generated by our body by various endogenous systems, exposure to different physiochemical conditions or pathological states. A balance between free radicals and antioxidants is necessary for proper physiological function. If free radicals overwhelm the body's ability to regulate them, a condition known as oxidative stress ensues. Free radicals thus adversely alter lipids, proteins, and DNA and trigger a number of human diseases. Hence application of external source of antioxidants can assist in coping this oxidative stress. Synthetic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxytoluene and butylated hydroxyanisole have recently been reported to be dangerous for human health. Thus, the search for effective, nontoxic natural compounds with antioxidative activity has been intensified in recent years. The present review provides a brief overview on oxidative stress mediated cellular damages and role of dietary antioxidants as functional foods in the management of human diseases.

3,695 citations


Cites background from "Oxidative stress: oxidants and anti..."

  • ...Types of antioxidants Cells are protected against oxidative stress by an interacting network of antioxidant enzymes.[43] Here, the superoxide released by processes such as oxidative phosphorylation is first converted to hydrogen peroxide and then further reduced to give water....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The nature of antioxidants is discussed, it being suggested that antioxidant enzymes and chelators of transition metal ions may be more generally useful protective agents than chain‐breaking antioxidants.
Abstract: Radicals are species containing one or more unpaired electrons. The oxygen radical superoxide (O 2 - ) and the non-radical oxidants hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and hypochlorous acid (HOCl) are produced during normal metabolism and perform several useful functions. Excessive production of O 2 - and H2O2 can result in tissue damage, which often involves generation of highly reactive hydroxy 1 radical (· OH) and other oxidants in the presence of “catalytic” iron or copper ions. A major form of antioxidant defence is the storage and transport of iron or copper ions in forms that will not catalyze formation of reactive radicals. Tissue injury, e. g., by ischaemia or trauma, can cause increased iron availability and accelerate free radical reactions. This may be especially important in the brain, since areas of this organ are rich in iron and cerebrospinal fluid cannot bind released iron ions. Oxidative stress upon nervous tissue can produce damage by several interacting mechanisms, including rises in intracellular free Ca2+ and, possibly, release of excitatory amino acids. Recent suggestions that free radical reactions are involved in the neurotoxicity of aluminium and in damage to the substantia nigra in Parkinson’s disease are reviewed. Finally, the nature of antioxidants is discussed, with a suggestion that antioxidant enzymes and chelators of iron ions may be more generally useful protective agents than chain-breaking antioxidants. Careful precautions must be taken in the design of antioxidants for therapeutic use.

2,968 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An "oxidative response to inflammation" model is proposed as a means of reconciling the response-to-injury and oxidative modification hypotheses of atherosclerosis.
Abstract: 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.

2,518 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Evidence is provided of an association between a high intake of vitamin E and a lower risk of coronary heart disease in men, and public policy recommendations with regard to the use ofitamin E supplements should await the results of additional studies.
Abstract: Background The oxidative modification of low-density lipoproteins increases their incorporation into the arterial intima, an essential step in atherogenesis. Although dietary antioxidants, such as vitamin C, carotene, and vitamin E, have been hypothesized to prevent coronary heart disease, prospective epidemiologic data are sparse. Methods In 1986, 39,910 U.S. male health professionals 40 to 75 years of age who were free of diagnosed coronary heart disease, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia completed detailed dietary questionnaires that assessed their usual intake of vitamin C, carotene, and vitamin E in addition to other nutrients. During four years of follow-up, we documented 667 cases of coronary disease. Results After controlling for age and several coronary risk factors, we observed a lower risk of coronary disease among men with higher intakes of vitamin E (P for trend = 0.003). For men consuming more than 60 IU per day of vitamin E, the multivariate relative risk was 0.64 (95 percent confidence in...

2,365 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Methods used to trap RS, including spin trapping and aromatic hydroxylation, are critically examined, with a particular emphasis on those methods applicable to human studies and methods used to detect RS in cell culture.
Abstract: Free radicals and other reactive species (RS) are thought to play an important role in many human diseases. Establishing their precise role requires the ability to measure them and the oxidative damage that they cause. This article first reviews what is meant by the terms free radical, RS, antioxidant, oxidative damage and oxidative stress. It then critically examines methods used to trap RS, including spin trapping and aromatic hydroxylation, with a particular emphasis on those methods applicable to human studies. Methods used to measure oxidative damage to DNA, lipids and proteins and methods used to detect RS in cell culture, especially the various fluorescent ‘probes' of RS, are also critically reviewed. The emphasis throughout is on the caution that is needed in applying these methods in view of possible errors and artifacts in interpreting the results. Keywords: Cell culture, free radical, reactive species, antioxidant, oxidative stress, oxidative damage, fluorescent probe, lipid peroxidation, superoxide Introduction Free radicals and other ‘reactive oxygen (ROS)/nitrogen/chlorine species' (for an explanation of these terms see Table 1) are widely believed to contribute to the development of several age-related diseases, and perhaps, even to the aging process itself (Halliwell & Gutteridge, 1999; Sohal et al., 2002) by causing ‘oxidative stress' and ‘oxidative damage' (terms explained in Table 2). For example, many studies have shown increased oxidative damage to all the major classes of biomolecules in the brains of Alzheimer's patients (Halliwell, 2001; Butterfield, 2002; Liu et al., 2003). Other diseases in which oxidative damage has been implicated include cancer, atherosclerosis, other neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes (Hagen et al., 1994; Chowienczyk et al., 2000; Halliwell, 2000a, 2001, 2002a, 2002b; Parthasarathy et al., 2000). If oxidative damage contributes significantly to disease pathology (Table 3 lists the criteria needed to establish this), then actions that decrease it should be therapeutically beneficial (Halliwell, 2001; Lee et al., 2002a; Liu et al., 2003). If the oxidative damage is involved in the origin of a disease, then successful antioxidant treatment should delay or prevent the onset of that disease (Halliwell, 1991, 2002a, 2002b; Galli et al., 2002; Steinberg & Witztum, 2002). To establish the role of oxidative damage (Table 3), it is therefore essential to be able to measure it accurately. For example, the failure of interventions with antioxidants such as vitamin E, β-carotene or ascorbate to decrease disease incidence in several human intervention trials may have simply been due to the failure of these compounds to decrease oxidative damage in the subjects tested (Halliwell, 1999a, 2000c; Levine et al., 2001; Meagher et al., 2001). In this review, we will examine the methods available to measure reactive species (RS) and oxidative damage, with a particular emphasis on those applicable to human studies. Table 1 Nomenclature of reactive species Table 2 Some key definitions Table 3 Criteria for implicating RS as a significant mechanism of tissue injury in human disease Measuring RS in vivo: basic principles Some fascinating techniques such as L-band electron spin resonance (ESR) with nitroxyl probes and magnetic resonance imaging spin trapping are under development to measure RS directly in whole animals (e.g. Berliner et al., 2001; Han et al., 2001; Utsumi & Yamada, 2003), but no probes are currently suitable for human use. Most RS persist for only a short time in vivo and cannot be measured directly. There are a few exceptions: examples include H2O2 (discussed below), and perhaps, NO•, in the sense that serum levels of NO2− have been claimed to measure vascular endothelial NO• synthesis (Kelm et al., 1999), despite the fact that NO2− is quickly oxidized to NO3− in vivo (Kelm et al., 1999; Oldreive & Rice-Evans, 2001). Essentially, there are two approaches to detecting transient RS: attempting to trap these species and measure the levels of the trapped molecules and measuring the levels of the damage done by RS, that is, the amount of oxidative damage. Sometimes other approaches are used. They include measurements of erythrocyte antioxidant defences and of total antioxidant activity of body fluids; falls in these parameters are often taken as evidence of oxidative stress. Erythrocytes cannot synthesize proteins, however, and their antioxidant enzyme levels may drop as they ‘age' in the circulation (Denton et al., 1975). Thus changes in their levels are more likely to reflect changes in the rates of red blood cell turnover: if this slows down, the circulating erythrocytes will be older on average and so levels of antioxidant enzymes in them will appear to fall. Vice versa, if an intervention accelerates red cell removal or increases erythropoiesis, levels of antioxidants in red cells will seem to rise. Hence, such data should be interpreted with caution. Depending on the method that is used to measure it, the plasma or serum ‘total antioxidant capacity' (TAC) usually involves major contributions from urate, ascorbate and sometimes albumin −SH groups (Benzie & Strain, 1996; Halliwell & Gutteridge, 1999; Prior & Cao, 1999; Rice-Evans, 2000; Bartosz, 2003), although different methods measure different things (Schlesier et al., 2002; Bartosz, 2003). Thus, for example, if plasma albumin levels fall, TAC will fall. If urate levels rise, TAC will rise. The multiple changes in blood chemistry that occur in sick people mean that TAC changes should be interpreted with caution. TAC is also influenced by diet, often because consumption of certain foods may produce changes in plasma ascorbate and/or urate levels (Halliwell, 2003b).

2,239 citations

References
More filters
Book
13 Jun 1985
TL;DR: 1. Oxygen is a toxic gas - an introduction to oxygen toxicity and reactive species, and the chemistry of free radicals and related 'reactive species'
Abstract: 1. Oxygen is a toxic gas - an introductionto oxygen toxicity and reactive species 2. The chemistry of free radicals and related 'reactive species' 3. Antioxidant defences Endogenous and Diet Derived 4. Cellular responses to oxidative stress: adaptation, damage, repair, senescence and death 5. Measurement of reactive species 6. Reactive species can pose special problems needing special solutions. Some examples. 7. Reactive species can be useful some more examples 8. Reactive species can be poisonous: their role in toxicology 9. Reactive species and disease: fact, fiction or filibuster? 10. Ageing, nutrition, disease, and therapy: A role for antioxidants?

21,528 citations

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1985

880 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The use of supplemental vitamin E in chronic diseases such as ischemic heart disease, atherosclerosis, diabetes, cataracts, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's disease, and impared immune function, as well as in subjects receiving total parenterol nutrition is discussed.
Abstract: How much vitamin E is enough? An established use of supplemental vitamin E in humans is in the prevention and therapy of deficiency symptoms. The cause of vitamin E deficiency, characterized by peripheral neuropathy and ataxia, is usually malabsorption—a result of fat malabsorption or genetic abnormalities in lipoprotein metabolism. Genetic abnormalities in the hepatic α-tocopherol transfer protein also cause vitamin E deficiency—defects in this protein cause an impairment in plasma vitamin E transport. Impaired delivery of vitamin E to tissues, thereby, results in deficiency symptoms. Also discussed is the use of supplemental vitamin E in chronic diseases such as ischemic heart disease, atherosclerosis, diabetes, cataracts, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and impared immune function, as well as in subjects receiving total parenterol nutrition. In healthy individuals, a daily intake of about 15-30 mg of α-tocopherol is recommended to obtain “optimal plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations” (30 μM...

482 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Cellular protection against the deleterious effects of reactive oxidants generated in aerobic metabolism, called oxidative stress, is organized at multiple levels.

389 citations


"Oxidative stress: oxidants and anti..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The half-lives of the major reactive oxygen species are vastly different, underscoring the necessity for different types of defense mechanisms (see Sies, 1993)....

    [...]

  • ...The principles underlying the antioxidant functions have been discussed (Sies, 1993)....

    [...]

  • ...This brief' overview discusses selected topics f'roml Nlork in the aLuthor's laboratory and is not intended to cover the xAxhole field, which is progressing ralpidly (see Sies, 1993, 1995)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: These powerful new tools used to approach the problem of environmental and occupational carcinogens and anticarcinogens are related to "natural" mutagens and carcinogens in food and the use of oxygen radicals as a cause of degenerative disease associated with aging is discussed.
Abstract: The scientific understanding of cancer and degenerative disease is being aided by new methodologies which are now used to approach the problem of environmental and occupational carcinogens and anticarcinogens. This paper reviews these powerful new tools and relates them to "natural" mutagens and carcinogens in food. It also discusses the use of oxygen radicals as a cause of degenerative disease associated with aging. Since no human diet can be totally free of carcinogens or mutagens, it is necessary to consider the risks of alternative courses of actions and to quantitate the magnitude of the risks through the "quantification" of these risks. Since carcinogens and anticarcinogens differ in their potency in animals over one million fold, the extrapolation of risks from rodents to humans is difficult but it is a first step. Despite better understanding of all of these risks, it is important to realize that the overall trend in life expectancy in the United States is continuing steadily to improve.

290 citations


"Oxidative stress: oxidants and anti..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The human diet contains many compounds of an oxidant and antioxidant nature (Ames, 1983)....

    [...]

Trending Questions (1)
What are the defense mechanisms that exist against oxidative stress?

The defense mechanisms against oxidative stress include protection against the formation of reactive oxygen species and the presence of antioxidant molecules.