3 replies to this topic

[larrgus]

I really don't know anything about this but I know that I once read in a book about oxidative stress or maybe it was also nitrosative stress

can cause damage to the cells which cannot be repaired. Can anyone comment on this? Does this mean that if a person has high oxidative stress

for a few years then here cells are ruined and cannot recover from this even if the person is still relatively young?

[Vardarac]

Oxidation is an inevitable consequence of our metabolism - we make energy by chemically breaking down compounds, which has the unfortunate side effect of generating a few still-reactive compounds since the chemistry is never perfectly precise.

 

These still-reactive compounds, in this context called free radicals, will chemically react with their surroundings or be quenched by antioxidants (or both, as it were). Sometimes, those surroundings include DNA or parts of the cell that interact with DNA. Damage to DNA is both permanent and cumulative, and with our technology cannot currently be repaired.

 

However, while this damage can certainly cause mutation and cell death, it isn't necessarily what causes the dysfunction of aging that we're familiar with. Because it can happen in so many different places in DNA, and happens differently in every last cell of your body, it means that some cells (and as experience tells us, most - for most of our lives, anyway) will survive. Unfortunately, survival doesn't guarantee sufficient fidelity for good function, which is why clearing senescent cells and cancers will be essential to reversing the damage of aging.

 

But even this clearance may not mean that our cells have properly functioning DNA and more types of aging damage resulting from that damage may become apparent over time. The ultimate defeat to aging will come in being able to completely rewrite and repair entire genomes and epigenomes, probably in a handful of new cells that are then grown up and reintroduced to your body.

 

(I'm only a lowly bachelor's in cell/genetics, so consider that last part wishful science fiction.)

Edited by Vardarac, 03 July 2015 - 02:09 AM.

[larrgus]

Hello, I had a blood test done 4 years ago where oxidative stress was measured and the oxidative stress was high and the antioxidant capacity was too low.

I don't know how long I have been having high oxidative stress. Back then I didn't take any supplements except fish oil.

Now I am taking all kinds of supplements (multi,B,C,D,E,Q10). But I don't know how my oxidative stress level is now and if it's better or still too high.

 

But reading in this book that oxidative stress can cause permanent damage worries me. Should I be worried now?

[niner]

I wouldn't worry too much, larrgus.  A lot of the damage that oxidative stress causes can be repaired by the body.  We recycle some oxidized proteins, for example, and replace them with new ones.  Many kinds of damage to DNA can be repaired by the various DNA repair systems in our cells.  If the damage is too great, the cell will die, either cleanly via apoptosis, or in a dirtier fashion via necrosis.  It's generally not a problem if a cell dies in most tissues, as most tissues will replace lost cells.  It's a bigger problem when the cell is supposed to be very long-lived and is only replaced slowly if at all, like neurons.  It's also a problem when long-lived, slowly-repaired tissue like the extracellular matrix is damaged. 

 

Without knowing the nature of the blood test you had, it's hard to say how significant it was.  I'd recommend that you not smoke, that you eat well and avoid excess sugar, that you exercise and sleep enough.  This sort of healthy living will give your body the best chance to repair itself.