New Research on Oxidative Stress
May 28th, 2009It is now generally agreed that oxidative stress plays a major role in disease. At every point in the day, cells are busily churning away to optimally promote health and fight attacks that can cause disease. Scientists don’t yet fully understand how all those complex functions operate; but they are getting there.
For a stock-taking of some of the new research relating to oxidative stress, here’s a generally readable but still scientifically detailed article: Oxidative activation of antioxidant defense.
It serves as a good primer for understanding the purpose of the approach that Eng3 Corporation is taking.
In the article, British and German scientists explain how disturbances occur in what is called “redox equilibrium.” That term refers to the balance in living cells between oxidizing and anti-oxidizing, or “reducing,” elements. Imbalance leads to an increase in concentrations of “reactive oxidizing species” which then take part in complex processes that can result in cell damage.
And that contributes to the development of many diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and many others.
The scientists, Paul G. Winyard, Christopher J. Moody, and Claus Jacob, note that the discovery of the extent of the association between redox disequilibrium and disease has prompted much research. They and their colleagues wish to know, for example, how living cells monitor, control, and maintain their own “redox balance” – how they respond to attacks on their redox balance.
Cells have both response and defense processes that protect against attack. The article explains that many of those processes rely on sulfar redox chemistry, while others are based on amino acid side chains in proteins that oxidative stress activates. Much remains to be learned about these responses, and descriptions of many of them are not easy for non-specialists to read. The article details, for example, cysteine-based redox regulation of the glutathione and thioredoxin pathways.
You may want to take it on faith that complex cell functions such as those exist, and that their proper functioning is crucial if you are to stay healthy.