Translate this page into:
The liver: Oxidative stress and dietary antioxidants
This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
This article was originally published by Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd and was migrated to Scientific Scholar after the change of Publisher.
As highlighted in the cover design, this book focuses on the effects of oxidative stress on the liver and extensively reviews the research into a variety of naturally occurring dietary antioxidants. The liver plays an important role in body metabolism and hence is likely to be affected by oxidative stress. After absorption from the intestine, the liver is the first organ involved in the metabolism of dietary nutrients and drugs. This is an important source of free radicals, and hence, this organ is well protected from this onslaught by the presence of various inherent mechanisms.
The term oxidative stress was coined about 30 years ago. Disturbances in the reactive oxygen system may affect the cellular metabolism and may damage the cellular constituents. Generation of oxygen-free radicals and its consequences resulting in oxidative stress have been implicated in various human diseases.
This book deals with various mechanisms of free radical generation and oxidative stress in different pathological conditions of the liver as well as the protective antioxidant mechanisms present in the liver. A detailed description of the beneficial effects of natural compounds and vitamins on the liver is presented. Although many chapters are included on this aspect, most of these are experimental animal studies.
The book is well-written and formatted, and the editors have corroborated 28 exhaustive chapters dedicated to various aspects of liver damage by oxidative stress and possible protection by natural antioxidants. As many chapters are authored by active researchers, the cutting edge of research on specific research topics can be appreciated in the respective areas of work.
There is, however, less emphasis on human studies on free radicals and oxidative stress in liver diseases. Identifying beneficial molecules from dietary sources and translating these benefits to clinical practice is a challenge. Despite extensive experimental animal studies available on the protective effects of antioxidants in the liver, routine hepatology clinical practice includes only some of these – notably, N-acetylcysteine (which replenishes glutathione stores in the liver) in paracetamol overdose as well as other causes of acute liver failure and vitamin E to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Overall, this book is a timely update on the latest information in this important field. The research data presented here may help bridge the gap between basic research and clinical hepatology practice and should stimulate further research into the use of these antioxidants in clinical practice.
