Alterations in the antioxidative defense parameters upon chronic stress are considered critical for pathophysiology of stress related psychiatric disorders, and their status in blood serves as biomarker for effects of pharmacological treatments. The present study was designed to investigate the modulation of erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes (AOEs): CuZn superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), catalase (...

In this study, prooxidant and antioxidant status in liver homogenates and their mitochondrial fractions were investigated in both chronic and chronic plus acute ethanol-treated rats. Increases in serum transaminase activities, as well as increases in total lipid, triglyceride, malondialdehyde (MDA) and diene conjugate (DC) levels and decreases in glutathione (GSH), vitamin E and vitamin C level...

Phytoestrogens such as the soy isoflavonoid daidzein have potential health benefits. The antioxidant properties of phytoestrogens are considered to be responsible in part for their protective effects. The antioxidant enzyme (AOE) system plays an important role in the defense of cells against oxidative insults. To determine whether flavonoids can exert antioxidative effects not only directly but...

c-jun, which is overexpressed in a number of human cancers encodes a critical component of the AP-1 complex. c-jun has been shown to either induce or inhibit cellular apoptosis. Germ line deletion of both c-jun alleles is embryonically lethal. To determine the role of the endogenous c-jun gene in apoptosis, we performed mammary epithelial cell-targeted somatic deletion using floxed c-jun (c-jun...

The role of antioxidant defense mechanisms in the pathogenesis of granulomatous human lung diseases remains open to investigation. In this study we investigated the immunoreactivity of two important superoxide radical scavenging intracellular antioxidant enzymes, manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and copperzinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), in pulmonary sarcoidosis and extrinsic allergic...

OBJECTIVE There is evidence that multiple sclerosis (MS) is not only characterized by immune mediated inflammatory reactions but also by neurodegenerative processes. Neutralization of oxidative stress and excitotoxicity, might represent a therapeutic approach to provide neuroprotection in MS. The purpose of this study was to compare changes in total antioxidative status and activities of chosen...

Inhibitor studies with isolated mitochondria demonstrated that complex I (CI) and III (CIII) of the electron transport chain (ETC) can act as relevant sources of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS). Here we studied ROS generation and oxidative stress induction during chronic (24h) inhibition of CI and CIII using rotenone (ROT) and antimycin A (AA), respectively, in intact HEK293 cells. ...

Alterations in muscle play an important role in common diseases and conditions. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated during hindlimb unloading due, at least in part, to the activation of xanthine oxidase (XO). The major aim of this study was to determine the mechanism by which XO activation causes unloading-induced muscle atrophy in rats, and its possible prevention by allopurinol, a wel...

Elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and ROS-dependent protein damage is a common observation in the pathogenesis of many muscle wasting disorders, including sarcopenia. However, the contribution of elevated ROS levels to -a breakdown in neuromuscular communication and muscle atrophy remains unknown. In this study, we examined a copper zinc superoxide dismutase [CuZnSOD (Sod1)] kno...

We have used female and male transgenic (Tg) mice that carry the complete sequence of the human copper-zinc (CuZn) superoxide dismutase (SOD) gene in order to assess the lethal effects of methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). In contrast to non-Tg mice, both heterozygous and homozygous SOD-Tg mice showed resistance to the lethal effects of both drugs. Females...