A review of oxidants and antioxidants in biological systems

Year 2020, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, 64 - 72, 29.03.2020

İmge Kunter Niloufar Zabib Muberra Kosar

Abstract

Oxidants are any agent capable of removing electron from another molecule in a course of a redox reaction. When it comes to biological systems free-radicals, especially reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are involved in oxidation reactions. Both endogenous and exogenous factors can contribute to free-radical formation. Fortunately, an endogenous balance between free-radicals and antioxidant systems is present in the biological system. Despite the common belief that free-radicals are destructive agents, nowadays it has been proven that free-radicals such as ROS and RNS are greatly involved in signalling pathways and immune function. The destructive effect of antioxidants becomes significantly important only when this intrinsic balance is disturbed in favour of free-radicals, a condition known as oxidative stress. Over-production of free-radicals in oxidative stress can have deleterious effects on the biological systems in virtue of their interaction with important biological molecules such as proteins, lipids, and DNA. Favourably antioxidants are available to prevent the over-accumulation of free radicals and consequently their harmful effects by scavenging them. Various classification attributes have been suggested for antioxidants, amongst which, classification on the basis of their mechanism of action as primary and secondary antioxidant or their classification on the basis of their enzymatic activity as enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants are the most famous ones. The objective of this review article is to provide the basic information required for the understanding of reactive oxygen species and their formation, antioxidants terminology, their classification and the mechanism by which the antioxidants are involved in counteracting harmful effect of oxidant in biological systems. 

Keywords

oxidative stress, ROS, RNS, antioxidants in biological systems

References

• Aguilar TAF, Navarro BCH, Pérez JAM (2016). Endogenous Antioxidants: A Review of their Role in Oxidative Stress, in: A Master Regulator of Oxidative Stress - The Transcription Factor Nrf2. Jose Antonio Morales-Gonzalez, Angel Morales-Gonzalez and Eduardo Osiris Madrigal-Santillan, IntechOpen.
• Alagumanivasagam G, Pasupathy R, Kottaimuthu A, Manavalan R (2012).A Review on in-vitro antioxidant methods. IJPCS. 1(2): 662-674.
• All antioxidants are not equivalent (2016). http://bionov.fr/en/sod-b/primary-antioxidants/Accessed 13.11.2019.
• Badarinath AV, Rao KM, Madhu C, Chetty S, Ramkanth S, Rajan TVS, Gnanaprakash K (2010). A Review on in-vitro antioxidant methods: comparisions, correlations and considerations. Int J Pharm Tech Res. 2(2): 1276-1285.
• Birben E, Sahiner UM, Sackesen C, Erzurum S, Kalayci O (2012). Oxidative stress and antioxidant defense. World Allergy Organ J. 5(1): 9-19.
• Bland J (1995). Oxidants and antioxidants in clinical medicine: Past, present and future potential. J Nutr Environ Med. 5(3): 255-280.
• Bouayed J, Bohn T (2010). Exogenous antioxidants - double-edged swords in cellular redox state: Health beneficial effects at physiologic doses versus deleterious effects at high doses. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 3(4): 228-37.
• Bunaciu AA, Aboul-Enein HY, Fleschin S (2012). FTIR spectrophotometric methods used for antioxidant activity assay in medicinal plants. Appl Spectrosc Rev. 47(4): 245-255.
• Chaudière J, Ferrari-Iliou R (1999). Intracellular antioxidants: From chemical to biochemical mechanisms. Food Chem Toxicol. 37(9-10): 949-62.
• Dontha S (2016). A review on antioxidant methods. Asian J Pharm Clin Res. 9(8): 14-32.
• Ďuračková Z (2010). Some current insights into oxidative stress. Physiol Res. 59(4): 459-69.
• Gupta D (2015). Methods for determination of antioxidant capacity: A review. Int J Pharm Sci Res. 6(62): 546-566.
• Lushchak IV, Semchyshy MH (2012). Introductory Chapter, in: Oxidative Stress - Molecular Mechanisms and Biological Effects. InTech. https://doi.org/10.5772/39292 Kanti Das T, Wati MR, Fatima-Shad K (2014). Oxidative stress gated by fenton and haber weiss reactions and its association with alzheimer’s disease. Arch Neurosci. 2(2): e60038.
• Lagouge M, Larsson NG (2013). The role of mitochondrial DNA mutations and free radicals in disease and ageing. J Intern Med. 273(6): 529-43.
• Moharram HA , Youssef M (2015). Methods for determining the antioxidant activity: a review. J Food Sci Techno. 11: 31-42.
• Phaniendra A, Jestadi DB, Periyasamy L (2015). Free radicals: Properties, sources, targets, and their implication in various diseases. Indian J Clin Biochem. 30(1): 11-26.
• Poli G, Leonarduzzi G, Biasi F, Chiarpotto E (2012). Oxidative stress and cell signalling. Curr Med Chem. 11(9): 1163-82.
• Santo A, Zhu H, Li YR (2016). Free radicals: From health to disease. React Oxyg Species. 2(4): 245–263.
• Tiwari K (2004). Antioxidants: New-generation therapeutic base for treatment of polygenic disorders. Current Science. 86(8): 1092-1102.