Oxidative Stress: A Review

Abstract

Oxidative stress is imbalance between the pro oxidant and antioxidant status in the living organisms. In human, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals are produced in various metabolic activity and immune response under normal physiological condition. Alteration or increase in ROS and free radicals generation leads to oxidative stress, which is responsible for disease condition such as atherosclerosis, cancer, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease; alcohol induced liver disease, cardiovascular disease and so forth. Thus, ROS and free radicals generation have both protective as well as harmful effect. Antioxidants are those substances which scavenge the ROS and free radicals and protect the different biomolecules such as DNA, protein, carbohydrates, lipid and so forth. In this review, we focus on the production of ROS, oxidative stress and scavenging properties of antioxidants.