Ligand-induced Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species in Cell Signaling

Abstract: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are those oxygen-containing molecules in the forms of superoxide anion， hydroxyl radicals and hydrogen peroxide which appear more reactive than molecular oxygen. The sources of intracellular ROS are mitochondria， endoplasmic reticulum， NADPH oxidase， lipoxygenase， cycloxgenase， etc. Under a rest statue， the generation of ROS is restricted to a quite low level. However， affected by physiological or pathological conditions， a massive quantity of ROS can be produced "purposely" by the activation of the various cell membrane receptors， like tumor necrosis factor-a receptors， receptor tyrosine kinases， receptor serine/threonine kinases， G protein-coupled receptors， ion channel-linked receptors， etc. As a result， ROS are involved all aspects of cell behaviors， such as cell proliferation， differentiation and death， and other biochemical events.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2006.05.0004