Hydrogen Peroxide Metabolism In Health And Disease

Much of the biology of oxidative stress and oxidative signalling centres on the generation and handling of hydrogen peroxide. The overall aim for this book would be to provide an insightful and useful forum to assist with the understanding of the relevance of hydrogen peroxide generation and how this is managed in human biology. The target audience would be those who currently have an interest in the generation of ROS, but who do not have expertise in chemistry, as well as those experts in the chemistry of oxidative stress, but without detailed understanding of the biologically relevant setting. We would aim to bridge the gap in understanding between chemistry and biology.

Much of the biology of oxidative stress and oxidative signalling centres on the generation and handling of hydrogen peroxide. The overall aim for this book would be to provide an insightful and useful forum to assist with the understanding of the relevance of hydrogen peroxide generation and how this is managed in human biology. The target audience would be those who currently have an interest in the generation of ROS, but who do not have expertise in chemistry, as well as those experts in the chemistry of oxidative stress, but without detailed understanding of the biologically relevant setting. We would aim to bridge the gap in understanding between chemistry and biology.

The imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant defenses determines a state known as oxidative stress. Higher levels of pro-oxidants compared to antioxidant defenses may generate oxidative damage, which, in turn, may lead to modifications in cellular proteins, lipids, and DNA, reducing functional capacity and increasing the risk of diseases. Nevertheless, the clearance of harmful reactive chemical species is achieved by the antioxidant defense systems. These protection systems are referred to as the first and second lines of defense and comprise the classic antioxidants, enzymatic and nonenzymatic defenses, including glutathione. This book presents and discusses the advancement of research on health and diseases and their underlying mechanisms, exploring mainly aspects related to the glutathione antioxidant system.

This volume includes contributions by the leading experts in the field of yeast aging. Budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and other fungal organisms provide models for aging research that are relevant to organismic aging and to the aging processes occurring in the human body. Replicative aging, in which only the mother cell ages while the daughter cell resets the clock to zero is a model for the aging of stem cell populations in humans, while chronological aging (measured by survival in stationary phase) is a model for the aging processes in postmitotic cells (for instance, neurons of the brain). Most mechanisms of aging are studied in yeast. Among them, this book discusses: mitochondrial theories of aging, emphasizing oxidative stress and retrograde responses; the role of autophagy and mitophagy; the relationship of apoptosis to aging processes; the role of asymmetric segregation of damage in replicative aging; the role of replication stress; and the role of the cytoskeleton in aging. Modern methods of yeast genetics and genomics are described that can be used to search for aging-specific functions in a genome-wide unbiased fashion. The similarities in the pathology of senescence (studied in yeast) and of cancer cells, including genome instability, are examined.

In the past decade there has been a major sea change in the way disease is diagnosed and investigated due to the advent of high throughput technologies, such as microarrays, lab on a chip, proteomics, genomics, lipomics, metabolomics etc. These advances have enabled the discovery of new and novel markers of disease relating to autoimmune disorders, cancers, endocrine diseases, genetic disorders, sensory damage, intestinal diseases etc. In many instances these developments have gone hand in hand with the discovery of biomarkers elucidated via traditional or conventional methods, such as histopathology or clinical biochemistry. Together with microprocessor-based data analysis, advanced statistics and bioinformatics these markers have been used to identify individuals with active disease or pathology as well as those who are refractory or have distinguishing pathologies. New analytical methods that have been used to identify markers of disease and is suggested that there may be as many as 40 different platforms. Unfortunately techniques and methods have not been readily transferable to other disease states and sometimes diagnosis still relies on single analytes rather than a cohort of markers. There is thus a demand for a comprehensive and focused evidenced-based text and scientific literature that addresses these issues. Hence the formulation of Biomarkers in Disease. The series covers a wide number of areas including for example, nutrition, cancer, endocrinology, cardiology, addictions, immunology, birth defects, genetics and so on. The chapters are written by national or international experts and specialists.

Oxidants, like other aspects of life, involves tradeoffs. Oxidants, whether intentionally produced or by-products of normal metabolism can either mediate a variety of critical biological processes but when present inappropriately cause extensive damage to biological molecules (DNA, proteins, and lipids). These effects can lead to either damage that is a major contributor to aging and degenerative diseases (or to other diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, immune-system decline, brain dysfunction, and cataracts) or normal physiological function- tissue repair, defense against pathogens and cellular proliferation. On the other hand the body is equipped with a complex antioxidant/oxidant handling system which includes both enzymatic and nonenzymatic (i.e. small molecules such as flavonoids, ascorbate, tocopherol, and carotenoids) produced endogenously or derived from the diet. This book focuses on how the same molecules can have favorable or noxious effects depending on location, level and timing. Each chapter focuses on one particular molecule or oxidant/antioxidant system and provides a state of the art review of the current understanding regarding both positive and negative actions of the system under review.

This is the first serious attempt to synthesize all that became known of glutathione over the last three decades. The book contains an update of glutathione biosynthesis with special emphasis on its regulation in adaptive stress responses. Other chapters review glutathione transport systems and glutathione peroxidases and their differences in substrate specificities and localization. Further contributions center on the diversified roles of different glutathione-S-transferases and the roles of nitrosoglutathione and glutaredoxins - a subfamily of redoxins. The book closes with discussions of the analogous or homologous thiol metabolism in pathogens and the potential suitability of involved enzymes as drug targets. Key selling features: Summarizing the way glutathione is involved in stress responses Compiling the multiple ways glutathione affects inflammatory responses Disclosing how glutathione dampens programmed cell death such as ferroptosis Exploring the enigma of how enzymes accelerate glutathione-dependent processes Discussing how detoxification and redox regulation is mediated by glutathionylation Reviewing the ways glutaredoxins catalyze protein disulfide reduction Highlighting the medical impact of glutathione-related metabolic pathways Illustrating the role thiol metabolism of pathogens might play in drug discovery Chapter 11 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.