A szabadgyök-kutatás évtizedei és magyar vonatkozásai

Absztrakt

Research of free radical reactions in the living organism has a decade-long history. Albert Szent-Györgyi's earlier thoughts on the free radical nature of the living state (1941) were confirmed more than thirty years later, in the second half of the 1970s.

It was demonstrated that the proteins of the cellular components are mainly responsible for the ESR signal of living tissues.

Although early radiological research was underway before the World War II, and it was intensified for the healing of survivors after the destruction by the two atomic bombs dropped on August 6, 1945, on Hiroshima (uranium²³⁵) and 9 on Nagasaki (plutonium²³⁹), the free radical study of radioactivity occurred only on April 26, 1986, after the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

This is probably due to the fact that in the consecutive years many discoveries have emerged concerning free radicals and antioxidant research.

It has been found that free radicals form spontaneously enzymatically and non-enzymatically procedures in the body, and their controlled presence is essential for proliferation, apoptosis and autophagy.

Diversified research has now made it clear that both free radicals and the three levels of antioxidant defence (enzymatic, antioxidant / scavenger molecules and cleansing mechanisms) are needed for live procedures.

However, unsuccessful attempts in the therapeutic uses of antioxidants drew attention to the importance of redox homeostasis and to healthy lifestyle, especially mild and balanced nutrition and avoidance of harmful environmental risk factors.