Advances in mechanisms of anti-oxidation.

ABSTRACT: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are a family of molecules that are continuously produced from oxygen consumption in aerobic cells. Controlled generation of ROS in normal cells serves useful purposes to regulate important cellular processes such as cell proliferation, inflammation, and immune response, but overproduction of ROS causes oxidative stress that contributes to the development of cancer, chronic disease, and aging. These hugely different consequences of ROS exposure demand a carefully balanced control of ROS production and disposition, which is largely achieved through the body's elaborate antioxidant system. The human antioxidant system consists of small antioxidants, antioxidant proteins, ROS-metabolizing enzymes, as well as many regulator proteins that mediate adaptive responses

SUBMITTER: Ma Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4772719 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature