Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine

Abstract The new edition of this well-established book is thoroughly revised and gives a comprehensive account of the role of free radicals, other reactive species (RS), and antioxidants in life, health, and disease. Chapter 1 reviews how oxygen (O2) is used by living organisms, why it can be toxic, and introduces the concept of oxygen radicals and other RS; their chemistry is detailed in Chapter 2, especially for superoxide, hydroxyl radical (including Fenton chemistry), peroxynitrite, nitric oxide, ozone, and singlet O2, with emphasis on their redox properties. Subsequent chapters detail what antioxidants can be made in vivo (e.g. superoxide dismutases, peroxiredoxins) and which can come from diet (e.g.…