Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are very likely footprints of ancient germ-cell infections. HERV sequences encompass about 1% of the human genome. HERVs have retained the potential of other retroelements to retrotranspose and thus to change genomic structure and function. The genomes of almost all HERV families are highly defective. Recent progress has allowed the identification of the bi...

Consumption of a range of dietary antioxidants may be beneficial in protecting low density lipoprotein (LDL) against oxidative modification, as studies have demonstrated that antioxidants other than vitamin E may also function against oxidation of LDL in vitro. In the present study, the effect of polyphenol antioxidants on the susceptibility of LDL to copper-mediated oxidation was investigated ...

Most ionizing radiation-induced damage is caused by hydroxyl radicals, and the selective reduction of hydroxyl by hydrogen in vitro has been demonstrated previously. Irradiation of the heart can cause chronic cardiac disease. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that hydrogen-rich water (pure water saturated with molecular hydrogen), which is easy to use, induces cardioprotection agai...

Purpose Lipoic acid (LA) shows promise as a beneficial micronutrient in improving health, particularly in the elderly. Clinical and in vitro reports show that LA induces endogenous antioxidants and acts as an anti-inflammatory agent. LA also increases nerve conductance, improves diabetes-induced polyneuropathies, and remediates the age-associated cognitive decline in canines. Furthermore, LA si...

BACKGROUND There is limited literature on the contributors to isoprostane metabolite 2,3-dinor-5,6-dihydro-15-F(2t)-isoprostane (15-F(2t)-IsoP-M) compared with F(2)-isoprostanes (F(2)-IsoPs) as an oxidative stress biomarker. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to investigate whether plasma concentrations of antioxidants, urinary excretion rates of polyphenols, and antioxidants in food a...

To assess antioxidative protection by carnosic acid (CA) in combination with that of other low-molecular weight (M(r)) antioxidants (alpha-tocopherol [alpha-T] and ascorbate [Asc]) in chloroplasts, we measured endogenous concentrations of these antioxidants, their redox states, and other indicators of oxidative stress in chloroplasts of three Labiatae species, differing in their CA contents, ex...

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) has been implicated in fibroblast proliferation. However, the mechanism involving ET-1 is not clear. The present study was performed to examine the role of endogenous ET-1 in ET-1-stimulated fibroblast proliferation and to investigate the regulatory mechanism of ET-1-induced ET-1 gene expression in cardiac fibroblasts. Both ET(A) receptor antagonist [(hexahydro-1H-azepinyl)c...

Skin is protected from the harmful effects of free radicals by the presence of an endogenous antioxidant system. However, when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, there is an imbalance between pro-oxidants and antioxidants, leading to oxidative stress and photoaging of the skin. It has been described that free radicals and other reactive species can cause severe damage to cells and cell comp...

In living organisms, the oxidative stress is associated with several physiopathological affections (e.g. atherosclerosis, cancer, aging, neurodegenerative diseases). The oxidative stress is generally initiated by generation of reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen species (RNS) (Halliwell & Gutteridge, 1990). ROS are continuously formed during cellular metabolism and are removed by antioxidants de...

Periodontal disease is an inflammatory disease process resulting from the interaction of a bacterial attack and host inflammatory response. Arrays of molecules are considered to mediate the inflammatory response at one time or another, among these are free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Periodontal pathogens can induce ROS overproduction and thus may cause collagen and periodontal ...