Fundamental Aspects of Reactive Oxygen Species, or What's the Matter with Oxygen?

✍ Scribed by IRWIN FRIDOVICH

• Book ID: 111395136
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 248 KB
• Volume: 893
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0890-6564
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb07814.x

✦ Synopsis

ABSTRACT: A byproduct of normal aerobic metabolism is the generation of dangerously reactive intermediates of the reduction of O~2~. These include O~2~^−^, H~2~O~2~, and HO · and arise because of the predisposition of O~2~ for univalent reductions. These reactive oxygen species (ROS), and others that they can engender, threaten all cellular macromolecules, and defenses are needed. Among those known to date are: superoxide dismutases to convert O~2~^−^ into O~2~+ H~2~O~2~; catalases to dismute H~2~O~2~ into O~2~+ H~2~O; and peroxidases to reduce H~2~O~2~ into 2H~2~O) and to reduce ROOH into ROH and H~2~O. These defenses are aided by enzymes that repair or recycle oxidatively damaged nucleic acids and proteins. A role for such oxidative damage in aging and neurodegenerative diseases is well supported.