Superoxide
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2025) | Viewed by 754
Special Issue Editors
Interests: antioxidants; natural products; docking; structure-activity relationship; antitumor metal compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: natural products; single crystal X-ray diffraction structure elucidation; metal complexes of natural products; anti-tumor compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The superoxide radical is involved in several very important biological processes. For instance, in mitochondria, the fuel of our body (ATP) is generated using glucose and oxygen as starting reagents; the latter helps via the contribution of the electronic transport chain. Since the superoxide radical is highly reactive, its excess and/or mitochondria membrane leak can dangerously affect important biological molecules in the cell such as DNA, proteins, etc. To counteract this problem, natural control is performed by enzymes in our body such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), which transforms superoxide in hydrogen peroxide plus oxygen. Later, the enzyme catalase transforms H2O2 in water plus oxygen. However, SOD control becomes less effective in aging or under some unhealthy conditions associated with excessive ROS production, and so it is highly recommended to provide scavengers of superoxide like flavonoids, chalcones, coumarins, etc., contained in fruits and vegetables. It is therefore important to establish a structure activity relationship for these natural products to help SOD action. A very effective and straightforward cyclovoltammetry technique to achieve this goal has been developed recently (https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox8010014).
Another very important role of superoxide is in the immune system, which uses superoxide to attack biomolecules of pathogens invaders. Unfortunately, sometimes signals are misinterpreted by the immune system, which attacks its own body triggering an autoimmune disease. Thus, natural products can have an important double role, e.g., helping to delay the aging process and decreasing autoimmune attacks.
This Special Issue aims to attract scholars working in any biological environment involving the superoxide radical, and this also includes molecular arrangements of superoxide interacting through a pi-pi system, which has recently been shown to be feasible for natural products mimicking SOD action (https://doi.org/10.3390/cimb44110354).
Prof. Dr. Francesco Caruso
Prof. Dr. Miriam Rossi
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- superoxide
- SOD
- antioxidants
- superoxide radical
- natural product
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