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Oxygen free radicals and tissue injury
413
OXYGEN
FREE RADICALS AND TISSUE INJURY 295 pp. 1993. Price: $99.00 u s MERRILL TARR and FRED SAMSON, EDITORS Birkhiuser, Boston, 1993 Reviewedby BarryHalliwell
University of LondonKingsCollege,LondonSW3 6LX, UnitedKingdom
According to the preface, the aim of this book is "to present for a diverse audience . . . discussions of a variety of issues important for understanding reactive oxygen species and their role in tissue damage." On the whole, the book succeeds well, largely because of the calibre of the authors. Chapter 1, entitled "Getting Along with Oxygen," is a well-written account of 02"- and the superoxide theory of oxygen toxicity. However, it assumes considerable background knowledge on the part of the "diverse audience," and the book should probably have begun with Chapter 2, in which Donald Borg comes to grip with the basic definitions in the field. This chapter is excellent (particularly the discussion of Fenton chemistry, which clearly explains the lack of significant evidence that damaging species other than "OH are importan0. My only criticisms, which are minor, are that the definition of a free radical seems unnecessarily complicated (why not simply "any species capable of independent existence that contains one or more unpaired electrons"?) and the fact that few references are cited. Chapter 3 gives a good account of photosensitization reactions, leading smoothly to a discussion of singlet 02 in biological systems (Kanofsky, Chapter 4). I particularly enjoyed the discussion of the limitations of using 102 "quenchers" and "traps." Chapter 5 (Floyd) discusses the problems in detecting oxygen free radicals in vivo and describes both trapping methods (spin trapping, aromatic hydroxylation) and the measurement of 8-hydroxyguanine and
protein carbonyls. Floyd also discusses the application of detection methods to the brain, a theme continued in chapters 6 (Layton and Pazdernik), 9 (an account of the possible role played by free radicals in worsening the consequences of traumatic injury to the central nervous system, by Ed Hall), and 11 (in which Audus presents an interesting discussion of the effects of neuroprotective agents on lipid peroxidation). Perhaps these chapters should have been grouped together. Several chapters are devoted to ischemia/reperfusion. Granger et al. (Chapter 7) present their interesting work on the role of radicals in leucocyte adhesion in the small intestine, a process apparently antagonized by NO'. Bolli et al. (Chapter 12) discuss myocardial stunning and present convincing evidence that at least part of this phenomenon is radical-mediated. The cardiac theme is continued in chapters 13 (in which Weiss et al. discuss evidence for free radical production during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion in general) and 14 (an interesting account of the comparative effects of different reactive oxygen species on cardiac electrophysiology). Again, perhaps the cardiac chapters should have been grouped together. In addition, the book contains two other excellent chapters. Uetrecht (Chapter 8) shows how drugs can be converted to damaging metabolites by free radicals and/or myeloperoxidase, and how this could contribute to idiosyncratic drug reactions. Beckman et al. (Chapter 10) review their exciting work on NO" cytotoxicity in the context of brain injury. Overall, I enjoyed this book and recommend it to others.
OXYGEN
FREE RADICALS AND TISSUE INJURY 295 pp. 1993. Price: $99.00 u s MERRILL TARR and FRED SAMSON, EDITORS Birkhiuser, Boston, 1993 Reviewedby BarryHalliwell
University of LondonKingsCollege,LondonSW3 6LX, UnitedKingdom
According to the preface, the aim of this book is "to present for a diverse audience . . . discussions of a variety of issues important for understanding reactive oxygen species and their role in tissue damage." On the whole, the book succeeds well, largely because of the calibre of the authors. Chapter 1, entitled "Getting Along with Oxygen," is a well-written account of 02"- and the superoxide theory of oxygen toxicity. However, it assumes considerable background knowledge on the part of the "diverse audience," and the book should probably have begun with Chapter 2, in which Donald Borg comes to grip with the basic definitions in the field. This chapter is excellent (particularly the discussion of Fenton chemistry, which clearly explains the lack of significant evidence that damaging species other than "OH are importan0. My only criticisms, which are minor, are that the definition of a free radical seems unnecessarily complicated (why not simply "any species capable of independent existence that contains one or more unpaired electrons"?) and the fact that few references are cited. Chapter 3 gives a good account of photosensitization reactions, leading smoothly to a discussion of singlet 02 in biological systems (Kanofsky, Chapter 4). I particularly enjoyed the discussion of the limitations of using 102 "quenchers" and "traps." Chapter 5 (Floyd) discusses the problems in detecting oxygen free radicals in vivo and describes both trapping methods (spin trapping, aromatic hydroxylation) and the measurement of 8-hydroxyguanine and
protein carbonyls. Floyd also discusses the application of detection methods to the brain, a theme continued in chapters 6 (Layton and Pazdernik), 9 (an account of the possible role played by free radicals in worsening the consequences of traumatic injury to the central nervous system, by Ed Hall), and 11 (in which Audus presents an interesting discussion of the effects of neuroprotective agents on lipid peroxidation). Perhaps these chapters should have been grouped together. Several chapters are devoted to ischemia/reperfusion. Granger et al. (Chapter 7) present their interesting work on the role of radicals in leucocyte adhesion in the small intestine, a process apparently antagonized by NO'. Bolli et al. (Chapter 12) discuss myocardial stunning and present convincing evidence that at least part of this phenomenon is radical-mediated. The cardiac theme is continued in chapters 13 (in which Weiss et al. discuss evidence for free radical production during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion in general) and 14 (an interesting account of the comparative effects of different reactive oxygen species on cardiac electrophysiology). Again, perhaps the cardiac chapters should have been grouped together. In addition, the book contains two other excellent chapters. Uetrecht (Chapter 8) shows how drugs can be converted to damaging metabolites by free radicals and/or myeloperoxidase, and how this could contribute to idiosyncratic drug reactions. Beckman et al. (Chapter 10) review their exciting work on NO" cytotoxicity in the context of brain injury. Overall, I enjoyed this book and recommend it to others.