Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T21:03:18.891Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An overview of methods for assessment of free radical activity in biology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2007

Malcolm J. Jackson
Malcolm J. Jackson*
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GA, UK
*
Corresponding Author: Professor Malcolm J. Jackson, fax +44 (0)151 706 5952, email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Assays which purport to assess free radical activity in biological systems are multiple. However, despite numerous published descriptions of new methods and modifications of methods to assess free radical activity in biological materials, there is still a lack of reliable techniques for quantification of activity in vivo. Analysis of a number of related indicators and use of a variety of approaches appears the only reliable way to evaluate these processes in vivo. In studies of free radical generation by contracting skeletal muscle we have attempted to use a variety of indicators, including measurement of endogenous antioxidant levels, measurement of indirect indicators of free radical activity (e.g. products of lipid peroxidation, DNA oxidation or protein oxidation) and, where possible, measurement of direct indicators of free radical activity by electron spin resonance techniques. In view of the relative lack of specificity of many available techniques, caution should be exerted in evaluating the numerous examples of isolated single measures of free radical activity which are present in the scientific literature.

Keywords

Free radicalsElectron spin resonance techniquesOxidative stressAntioxidants
Type
Meeting Report
Information
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , November 1999 , pp. 1001 - 1006
Copyright
The Nutrition Society

References

Ashton, T, Rowlands, CC, Jones, E, Young, IS, Jackson, SK, Davies, B & Peters, JR (1998) Electron spin resonance spectroscopic detection of oxygen-centred radicals in human serum following exhaustive exercise. European Journal of Applied Physiology 77, 498–502.Google Scholar
Beckley, RJ (1976) Free radicals in dry biological systems. In Free Radicals in Biology, Vol. 2, pp. 135–146 [Pryor, WA, editor]. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dillard, CJ, Litov, RE, Savin, WM, Dunelin, EE & Tappel, AL (1978) Effects of exercise, vitamin E and ozone on pulmonary function and lipid peroxidation. Journal of Applied Physiology 45, 927–932.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dizdaroglu, M (1991) Chemical determination of free radical-induced damage to DNA. Free Radical Biology and Medicine 10, 225–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dormandy, TL & Wickens, DG (1987) The experimental and clinical pathology of diene conjugation. Chemistry and Physics of Lipids 45, 353–364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, PJ & Halliwell, B (1990) Measurement of iron and copper in biological systems: bleomycin and copper-phenanthroline assays. Methods in Enzymology 233, 82–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forman, A & Borg, DC (1989) Electron spin resonance in biology. In CRC Handbook of Free Radicals and Antioxidants in Biomedicine, Vol. 3, pp. 167–186 [Miguel, J, Quintanilha, AT and Weber, H, editors]. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Garlick, PB, Davies, MJ, Hearse, DJ & Slater, TF (1987) Direct detection of free radicals in the reperfused rat heart using electron spin resonance spectroscopy. Circulation Research 61, 757–760.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gibson, R (1990) Principles of Nutritional Assessment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Grech, ED, Dodd, NJF, Jackson, MJ, Morrison, WL, Faragher, EB & Ramsdale, DR (1996) Evidence for free radical generation after primary percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty recanalization in acute myocardial infarction. American Journal of Cardiology 77, 122–127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grootveld, M & Halliwell, B (1986) Aromatic hydroxylation as a potential measure of hydroxyl radical formation in vivo. Identification of hydroxylated derivatives of salicylate in human body fluids. Biochemical Journal 237, 499–504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grootveld, M & Halliwell, B (1987) Measurement of allantoin and uric acid in human body fluids. A potential index of free radical reactions in vivo. Biochemical Journal 243, 803–808.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halliwell, B & Aruoma, OI (1991) DNA damage by oxygen-derived species: its mechanism, and measurement in mammalian systems. FEBS Letters 281, 9–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jack, CIA, Ridgeway, E, Jackson, MJ & Hind, CRK (1994) Serum octa-9,11 dienoic acid – An assay of free radical activity or as a result of bacterial production? Clinica Chimica Acta 224, 139–146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jackson, MJ (1994) Can dietary micronutrients influence tissue antioxidant capacity? Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 55, 53–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, MJ, Brooke, MH, Kaiser, K & Edwards, RHT (1991) Glutathione depletion during experimental damage to rat skeletal muscle and its relevance to Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Clinical Science 80, 559–564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jackson, MJ & Johnson, K (1989) Application of electron spin resonance techniques to the detection of free radicals in muscle tissue. In CRC Handbook of Free Radicals and Antioxidants in Biomedicine, Vol. 3, pp. 209–214 [Miquel, J, Quintanilha, AT and Weber, H, editors]. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Kaur, H & Halliwell, B (1996) Salicylic acid and phenylalanine as probes to detect hydroxyl radicals. In Free Radicals: A Practical Approach, pp. 101–118 [N, Punchard and FJ, Kelly, editors]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Levine, RL, Williams, JA, Stadman, ER & Shacter, E (1994) Carbonyl assays for determination of oxidatively modified proteins. Methods in Enzymology 233, 346–359.Google Scholar
Meister, A & Anderson, ME (1983) Glutathione. Annual Review of Biochemistry 52, 711–760.Google Scholar
Miller, RM, Sies, H, Park, EM & Thomas, JA (1990) Phosphorylase and creatine kinase modification by thiol disulphide exchange and by xanthine oxidase-initiated S-thiolation. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 276, 355–363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Podmore, ID, Griffiths, HR, Herbert, KE, Mistry, N, Mistry, P & Lunec, J (1998) Vitamin C exhibits pro-oxidant properties. Nature 392, 559.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rangan, U & Bulckley, GB (1993) Prospects for treatment of free radical-mediated tissue injury. British Medical Bulletin 479, 700–718.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shigenaga, MK, Aboujaoude, EN, Chen, Q & Ames, BN (1994) Assays of oxidative DNA damage biomarker, 8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine and 8-oxoguanine in nuclear DNA and biological fluids by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. Methods in Enzymology 234, 16–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snyder, MT, Balke, PO & Oertes, KE (1987) Lipid peroxidation during muscular exercise in man: inferences from the pulmonary excretion of n-pentane, isopentane and nitrogen. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 45, 64A.Google Scholar
Symons, MCR (1978) Chemical and Biochemical Aspects of Electron Spin Resonance. London: Van Nostrand-Reinhold.Google Scholar
Yagi, K (1989) A simple fluorimetric assay for lipid peroxides in blood serum or plasma. In CRC Handbook of Free Radicals and Antioxidants in Biomedicine, Vol. 3, pp. 215–218 [Miguel, J, Quintanilha, AT and Weber, H, editors]. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.Google Scholar