Latest Reactive oxygen species Stories
For years, health conscious people have been taking antioxidants to reduce the levels of reactive oxygen in their blood and prevent the DNA damage done by free radicals, which are the result of oxidative stress. But could excessive use of antioxidants deplete our immune systems?Research at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has raised that question.It has been known for decades that reactive oxygen species (ROS) - ions or very small molecules that include free radicals - damage cells....
Research published in the journal Genetics suggests new ways to stop byproducts from the air we breathe from harming our musclesIf you think the air outside is polluted, a new research report in the September 2009 issue of the journal Genetics (http://www.genetics.org) might make you to think twice about the air inside our bodies too. That's because researchers show how about 3 percent of the air we breathe gets converted into harmful superoxides, which ultimately harm our muscles....
Scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in California say they've discovered reactive oxygen plays a key role in cancer metastasis. The researchers, led by Professor Sara Courtneidge, said they determined reactive species, such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, help form invadopodia -- cellular protrusions implicated in cancer cell migration. They found inhibiting reactive oxygen reduces invadopodia formation, thereby limiting cancer cell invasion. Reactive oxygen has a...
The growth of cancerous tumors is fueled, at least in part, by the buildup of free radicals"”highly reactive oxygen-containing molecules.It stands to reason, then, that cancer should respond to treatment with antioxidants, which inhibit the rogue radicals, or with pro-oxidants, which go the opposite direction, increasing "oxidative stress" on cancer cells to the point of vanquishing them.But experiments with such treatments have had mixed results, possibly because patients differ...
With all the hype about beneficial antioxidants in everything from face cream to cereal bars, you'd think their targets"”oxygen radicals"”must be up to no good. It's true, the buildup of oxygen radicals and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells contributes to aging and possibly to diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's.But in moderate amounts, ROS also help keep cells healthy by controlling cell division, movement and other normal biological processes.To better understand the role...
Scientists in Michigan are reporting the development of a powerful new probe for identifying proteins affected by a key chemical process important in aging and disease. The probe works like a GPS or navigation system for finding these proteins in cells. It could lead to new insights into disease processes and identify new targets for disease treatments, the researchers say. Their study is scheduled for the Sept. 18 issue of ACS Chemical Biology, a monthly journal.Kate Carroll and colleagues...
A potent antioxidant enzyme made in the mitochondria reduces or prevents the memory and learning impairments of Alzheimer's disease in animals and could provide new direction to treating the disease, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and New York University in a new report.Superoxide dismutase (SOD-2), an enzyme made in the cell's mitochondria, also reduced the levels of superoxide(reactive oxygen) that is implicated in Alzheimer's disease, said Dr. Robia Pautler, assistant...
Mice with a defective mitochondrial protein called MCLK1 produce elevated amounts of reactive oxygen when young; that should spell disaster, yet according to a study in this week's JBC these mice actually age at a slower rate and live longer than normal mice.Mitochondrial oxidative stress is a popular theory explaining the aging process; over time, reactive oxygen species produced by mitochondria while they make energy slowly accumulate and begin damaging cells, including the mitochondria....
Sudipta Seal is enthralled by nanoparticles, particularly those of a rare earth metal called cerium. The particles are showing potential for a wide range of applications, from medicine to energy.Seal is a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Central Florida (UCF), and several years ago, he and his colleagues engineered nanoparticles of cerium oxide (CeO2), a material long used in ceramics, catalysts, and fuel cells. The novel nanocrystalline form is non-toxic...
When you were a kid your mom poured it on your scraped finger to stave off infection. When you got older you might have even used it to bleach your hair. Now there's another possible function for this over-the-counter colorless liquid: your body might be using hydrogen peroxide as an envoy that marshals troops of healing cells to wounded tissue.Using the zebrafish as an animal model, researchers in the lab of Harvard Medical School professor of systems biology Timothy Mitchison and Dana...
