• Corpus ID: 51903777

Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress in Neurodegenerative Diseases : Relevance of Dietary Antioxidants

@inproceedings{Singh2004FreeRA,
  title={Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress in Neurodegenerative Diseases : Relevance of Dietary Antioxidants},
  author={Ravindra Pratap Singh and Shashwat Sharad and Suman Kapur},
  year={2004}
}

• R. Singh, S. Sharad, S. Kapur
• Published 2004
• Biology

Cellular antioxidants are known to change their redox state, and they can be targeted for destruction, regulate oxidative processes involved in signal transduction, effect gene expression and pathways of cell proliferation and death. Oxidants and antioxidants play an important role in maintaining a balance between free radicals produced by metabolism or derived from environmental sources and the antioxidant system of the body. A complex natural antioxidant system exists in the biological systems, which is responsible for prevention of damage by pro-oxidants. Impaired endogenous antioxidant system favours accumulation of free radicals, which not only induces the process of lipid peroxidation but also plays a central role in neurodegeneration. The increased incidence of neurodegenerative diseases may be attributed to a pro-oxidative environment caused by smoking, alcohol abuse, UVA and UVB radiations, air pollution as well as inappropriate nutrition. The dependence of disease severity on imbalance between oxidants and natural defences suggests that oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in the progression of neurodegeneratve diseases and could serve as a useful target for treatment. It is our attempt to put forth the evidence for involvement of free radicals in pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases and the potential of treatment with antioxidants and scavenger substances. We also review the role of dietary antioxidants in chemoprevention and/ or therapy of neurodegenerative diseases.