Seiichi Matsugo*, Masashi Mizuno and Tetsuya Konishi Pages 763 - 790 ( 28 )
Recently, the free radical investigations cover a broad field of research related to chemistry, biology, medicine and biochemistry. One of the reasons for this is that the free radicals play crutial roles in many pathogenic disorders, typically carcinogenesis. So, in this sense it is very important to elucidate the precise mechanism of action of free radicals in vivo from the aspect of tumor necrosis. Indeed, many drugs have been extensively studied in relation to free radicals in recent years. These studies can be divided into two categories one of which emphasizes the advantageous side of free radicals, while the other emphasizes the toxic aspects of free radicals. In tis review article, we will discuss four major studies related free radical studies based on the chemical standpoint of view. Frist we will introduce the recent advances of radical generating drugs such as bleomycin and some ene-diyne natural products in the medicinal field. Second, we will introduce the possible use of free radical generating compounds as a condidate of the new-type of drug. Third, we will show the protective effects and importance of some recent advances in antioxidants research, which show the potentiality of natural antioxidants as the protective or therapeutic medicine for free radical deseases. Finally, we will introduce some recent progress in the gene-regulation studies by the antioxidants and show our ideas for the future application for this concept in the medicinal fields.