title: Oxygen radicals and other toxic oxygen metabolites as key mediators of the central nervous system tissue injury.
abstract: Free radicals are species containing one or more unpaired electrons, and for this reason they are highly reactive and can combine with a great variety of biomolecules, changing their physico-chemical characteristics. Oxygen free radicals are normally produced during cellular metabolism and aerobic cells are provided with antioxidant defense mechanisms able to counteract this physiological production. In conditions of increased production or decreased scavenging of free radicals, they can assume a fundamental importance in the pathogenesis of acute or chronic brain diseases.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacology, University of Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marzatico
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cafè
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005609:Free Radicals / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D009417:Nerve Tissue / Q000201:enzymology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D010734:Phosphogluconate Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005609:Free Radicals; D010734:Phosphogluconate Dehydrogenase; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase; D010100:Oxygen