Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine

Designed for biologists and clinicians who have little knowledge of chemistry, this text provides an understanding of the nature of free radicals. It explains what they are, how they are generated, how they react and gives the role of radical reactions in several biological systems.

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The importance of radical reactions in radiation damage, food preservation, combustion and in the rubber and paint industry has been known for many years. The interest shown in this field by biologists and clinicians has been raised recently by the discovery of the importance of radical reactions in normal body chemistry and in the mode of action of many toxins. The discoveries of hypoxic cell sensitizers that potentiate radiation-induced radical damage to cancerous tumours, of the enzyme superoxide dismutase, and of the mechanism of action of such toxins as paraquet and carbon tetrachloride provide major examples of this importance. Designed for biologists and clinicians who have little knowledge of chemistry, this text provides an understanding of the nature of free radicals. It explains what they are, how they are generated and how they react. Having established this basis, the role of radical reactions in several biological systems is evaluated in the hope that the careful techniques needed to prove their importance will become more widely used.
This edition of the text has been extensively rewritten and the authors have updated references to include recent research in this area.