Abstract
We all realize that oxygen is a dangerous friend. Oxygen is something that we cannot live without, but it is also a substance that we cannot live with indefinately. This chapter will review two aspects of this subject. First, an overview will be given of some of the points relevant to the idea that oxygen is toxic by pointing out the underlying chemical and biological mechanisms that are important in the toxic effects of oxygen in biological systems. Secondly, same experimental approaches that have been undertaken in our laboratory, using the concept of studying the increased metabolism associated with exercise in order to follow the generation of oxygen free radicals (oxidants) and their consequences, in terms of changes in antioxidants will be described. Antioxidants are major cellular defense mechanisms that are important to preventing molecular, cellular and tissue damage due to free radicals and hence their understanding is pertinent to relating “Cell function and Disease.”
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References
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© 1988 Plenum Press, New York
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Packer, L. (1988). Oxygen is a Dangerous Friend. In: Cañedo, L.E., Todd, L.E., Packer, L., Jaz, J. (eds) Cell Function and Disease. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0813-3_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0813-3_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8095-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0813-3
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