Antioxidant Therapy in Age-related Diseases

Abstract

Aging is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction which may result from oxidative stress.The high level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) contributes, in part, to organ dysfunction and pathology of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.Naturally, cells use endogenous and exogenous antioxidant defense to keep ROS at harmless level.Oxidative stress occurs when there is unbalance between ROS and antioxidant defense.Thus, antioxidants are potentially useful in therapy of age-related diseases.This review briefly discusses antioxidants that are currently of interest, including superoxide dismutase, coenzyme Q, and alpha-lipoic acid.