Assessment of oxidative balance in the lipo- and hydro-philic cellular environment in biological systems.

MALANGA G; OSTERA JM; PUNTARULO S

Reactive Oxygen Species, Lipid Peroxidation and Protein Oxidation

Nova Science Publishers

Lugar: Nueva York; Año: 2015; p. 43 - 60

Over the last decade, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) technology has beensuccessfully applied to detect free radicals in order to establish oxidative stressconditions. Since a variety of stable products are formed during the oxidation of lipids,several assays have been developed over the years in order to evaluate lipid peroxidation.EPR spectroscopy has shown the capacity to detect, in the presence of exogenous traps,the presence of lipid radicals (LR?) formed during peroxidation, by yielding unique andstable compounds. On the other hand, the one-electron oxidation of AH- producesascorbyl radical (A?) which is easily detectable by EPR, even at room-temperature inaqueous solution. The A? free radical has a relatively long lifetime compared to otherspecies, such as hydroxyl radical, peroxyl, alkoxyl, and LR? and has been proposed as amarker of oxidative stress, either in vitro or in vivo, in numerous systems, such as plasma.All biological systems contain many antioxidants, including both water-solublecompounds (such as AH- and glutathione), and lipid-soluble antioxidants, such as -tocopherol (-T). In this chapter, the most widely used indexes of oxidative balance inbiological systems will be briefly summarized. Moreover, special mention will be madeabout the application of the A?/AH- and LR?/-T ratios to situations of oxidative stress.The goal of this work is to discuss the possibility of detecting the actual state of lipid- andwater-soluble fractions of a biological system, providing an early and simple diagnosis ofstressing conditions.