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Article: Free-radical toxicity and antioxidant medications in Parkinson's disease.
- Article from:
- Physical Therapy
- Article date:
- March 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 American Physical Therapy Association, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Biosynthesis and Effects of Free Radicals
A free radical is any chemical species that contains one or more unpaired electrons.[10] The presence of an unpaired electron often causes the free radical to be highly reactive because the free radical acts as an electron acceptor and essentially steals electrons from other molecules.[10] This loss of electrons is called oxidation, and free radicals often are referred to as oxidizing agents because they tend to cause other molecules to donate their electrons to free radicals.[10]
The most common cellular free radicals are hydroxyl radical ([OH.sup..]), superoxide radical ([O.sub.2.sup.-.]), and nitric oxide ...