title: Host defenses in the aged: evaluation of the balance between oxidizing species generation and reducing power in phagocyting human granulocytes.
abstract: The respiratory burst reaction has been studied in human granulocytes from normal subjects divided in four age groups: (I) 20-29, (II) 30-39, (III) 40-49, and (IV) 50-59 years old. Zimosan opsonized particles (OZ) were used to evaluate, simultaneously, the reducing power and the oxidizing species generation. Our results showed a strong parallelism and a direct correlation between oxidizing species generation and reducing power in the groups (I) and (II), in presence or in the absence of opsonized zimosan. However, the age groups (III) and (IV) showed an increase in the free radicals generation and a significant decrease in the cellular reducing power. This inverse correlation observed between oxidizing/reducing power in the (III) and (IV) age groups may suggest a metabolic cellular disequilibrium.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Insituto de Ciências Bioloógicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Chaves
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rocha-Vieira
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Lima e Silva
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pereira dos Reis
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Nogueira-Machado
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010586:Phagocytes / Q000276:immunology; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species