Protein Oxidation in Aging, Disease, and Oxidative Stress

The demonstration that oxidatively modified forms of proteins accumulate during aging, oxidative stress, and in some pathological conditions has focused attention on physiological and non-physiological mechanisms for the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS)1 and on the modification of biological molecules by various kinds of ROS. Basic principles that govern the oxidation of proteins by ROS were established in the pioneering studies of Swallow (1), Garrison (2, 3), and Scheussler and Schilling (4) who characterized reaction products formed when proteins were exposed to ionizing radiation under conditions where only ⋅OH, O·̄2, or a mixture of both was made available.