Abstract
Aerobic organisms generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) through partial reduction of molecular oxygen to yield O2·-, H2O2,·OH, NO, and ONOO-. ROS appear to be involved in various pathologic processes such as tissue injury, inflammatory disorders and ischemic myocardial injury. Numerous anticancer drugs have been found to induce the generation of ROS in cancer cell and the inducement of cancer cell apoptosis by ROS is considered to possibly have therapeutic value.
This paper have reported the possibility of the elimination and generation of ROS by water-soluble cationic metalloporphyrins. For greater clarification of the relationship between metalloporphyrin structure and O2·-, novel water-soluble cationic metalloporphyrins were synthesized, as well as a novel water-soluble macromolecular metalloporphyrin for examining in vivo antioxidant effects. The effect of reactive oxygen species induced by water-soluble cationic metalloporphyrins with a high SOD activity on cell death are discussed.
