The hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection produces several pathological effects in host organism through a wide number of molecular/metabolic pathways. Today it is worldwide accepted that oxidative stress actively participates in HCV pathology, even if the antioxidant therapies adopted until now were scarcely effective. HCV causes oxidative stress by a variety of processes, such as activation of pr...

Age-related, diet-related and protein conformational diseases, such as atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, cancer, hypercholesterolemia, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases are common in the elderly population. The potential of chitosan, chitooligosaccharides and their derivatives in prevention and treatment of age-related dysfunctions is reviewed and discussed in this paper. The infl...

The worldwide prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus has reached epidemic proportions. The so-called traditional risk factors cannot fully explain the excessive cardiovascular disease risk of type 2 diabetic patients. Numerous studies indicate that postprandial metabolic derangements, most notably hyperglycaemia and hypertriglyceridaemia, which are exaggerated and prolonged in type 2 diabetes, ...

The term 'cardiorenal syndrome' (CRS) encloses a scenario of clinical interactions in which cardiac and renal dysfunctions coexist. The cross talk between the heart and the kidney is clearly evidenced but not fully understood. Indeed, different factors have been shown to be involved in the pathogenesis of CRS, such as systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis and immune dysregulation. ...

Obesity was shown to cause reproductive dysfunctions such as reduced conception, infertility and early pregnancy loss. However, the possible effects of obesity on oocyte quality are still not fully understood. In this study we investigated the effects of both diet and gene mutation induced obesity on impairments in mouse oocyte polarization, oxidative stress, and epigenetic modifications. Our r...

Oxidative stress is a phenomenon associated with imbalance between production of free radicals and reactive metabolites (e.g. superoxide and hydrogen peroxide) and the antioxidant defences. Oxidative stress in individuals with Down syndrome (DS) has been associated with trisomy of the 21st chromosome resulting in DS phenotype as well as with various morphological abnormalities, immune disorders...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to determine whether there is published evidence for increased oxidative stress in neuropsychiatric disorders. METHODS A PubMed search was carried out using the MeSH search term 'oxidative stress' in conjunction with each of the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic categories of the American Psychiatric Association in order to identify potential studies. RESULTS There w...