Antioxidants and Cardiovascular Disease

Pharmacologist Dr. Doping tells about the components of the antioxidant system, and new forms of coenzyme properties of hydrogen.

Antioxidants and oxidative stress - a very important area of medicine, a field of study in medicine, and it is related to the possible harmful effects of reactive oxygen species that are produced in our body. They can be formed in various pathological conditions. But basically what it is? There is an active oxygen atom which is able to oxidize many parts of our cells - DNA, proteins, enzymes, membranes, etc. - and thus their damaging. There are several different types, and one of the most aggressive - a hydroxyl radical, or a radical OH - one of the active oxygen species. And in the modern view of the overproduction of reactive oxygen species, or oxidative stress is involved in the development of diseases such as myocardial infarction, heart failure, in neurology, in the development of Parkinson's disease there is overproduction of reactive oxygen species. And here the main role played by mitochondria, because there is synthesized ATP - is a very powerful energy band to create energy. But at the slightest irregularities, especially when defects in the transfer of electrons of the respiratory chain, such as mitochondria produce large amounts of reactive oxygen species.

In terms of medical theory it is very useful to use drugs that would have caught these reactive oxygen species and eliminated the negative impact on the basic components of the cell. I must say that the problem was not as easy as we would like, and the way of implementation and, most importantly, obtaining high efficiency of these drugs there are quite a few problems. We are engaged in the study of antioxidants in the University of Moscow in our department, and one of the problems is that the emergence of reactive oxygen species - is not only a negative effect, but also struggle with alien cells and so on, macrophages kill foreign cells just using reactive oxygen species. Therefore, we can not completely suppress the formation of reactive oxygen species, and the need to find the golden mean, when we act only on the excess of reactive oxygen species, without affecting essential physiological processes, which use active forms of oxygen.

Antioxidants are: Hypoxen, Mexidol, Actovegin, Cortexin, Metaprot.

And we have in the body exists antioxidant system - are proteins, enzymes, which are activated and, in addition, many vitamins, such as Vitamin E or coenzyme such as coenzyme Q, are the components of the antioxidant system. That is, there must be a balance in the body between the rate of formation of reactive oxygen species and systems of recycling and elimination of life. But when the system begins to run poorly, this including leads to diseases and premature aging. Therefore, we can see a variety of drugs, which is advertised, for example, coenzyme Q10 as one of the most active endogenous agents that trap these reactive oxygen species. But the reality is in medicine that, despite the large publicity that exists, quite hard to find examples of very successful use of antioxidants. And when we started to deal with this issue, it turned out that much depends on the fact that these compounds may just very poorly absorbed in the body, that is, we accept them, but a very small fraction of them reaches the cells and produces its effect. Therefore it is very important to have those forms which are easy to digest.

There are coenzyme form that is much easier to penetrate into the mitochondria, Coenzyme have a standard, there are preparations using reduced coenzyme, and so on. That is, all these tricks are intended to be more successful these antioxidants ingested. But, say, coenzyme Q10, with whom we work long enough, the problem is that only 1-2% is absorbed from almost any form, known in the market.

We show that it is necessary to develop a form for intravenous administration, because if we introduce intravenously, then 100% of the drug enters the bloodstream.

And now we obtained a positive decision on the development of this form, and I think that in the next few years, a form will appear for the first time in our country and it will be a very important decision, because then we will be able better to deal with diseases of the cardiovascular system, such as heart failure, and, most importantly, we can quickly increase the concentration of the substance and its use in the ambulance service, for example, myocardial infarction, and then it can be administered intravenously at the first sign of heart attack. It will save 20-30% of the myocardium, which is otherwise simply on died, will not be reduced and, as a result, drastically worsen the prognosis for patients with myocardial infarction.

These areas are now very widely studied, and it is associated with this interest in natural or natural products. We know that there is a perception that what is created chemically, can be potentially dangerous and what has been created by nature, less dangerous. Although in general difficult to agree with this, but yet most people have the idea, and natural antioxidants, those that are found in many fruits and vegetables, rich in vitamins and so on, are becoming more and more popular, so the organic food, or organic food, that is used directly by farmers, fresh food. In general, one goal is to increase our oxidant protection against these reactive oxygen species.

There is a new direction, I myself recently found out, it's mostly the work of Japanese researchers that molecular hydrogen can have such a property, as well as hydrogen is a very small molecule, it easily penetrates through the membrane, and so on, that is, methods of introduction of hydrogen in the breathing mix - we breathe, and then it gets. Or, furthermore, just potable water saturated with hydrogen, and if it drink, this hydrogen enters the body. And, in general, are now in the literature a lot of publications on this positive action of hydrogen.

And as reactive oxygen species has formed during irradiation, and now space institutions and researchers are beginning to pay attention to it, in order to protect astronauts because at the height of radiation protection harder, and in order to preserve the health of the astronauts, the new developed how active antioxidants and may be molecular hydrogen will take its place in these effects, or as protection against oxidative stress.

So this is the direction, in spite of all the difficulties, continues to evolve, and the example of hydrogen reveals that there are more and more new players in the background. Although still ongoing work to improve the properties of known antioxidants that are better absorbed, so they acted quickly in the body and thus protects the body from the harmful effects of oxidative stress. Then it will help to reduce early aging, and very fond of Estheticians these drugs, because it is proven that reduces the formation of wrinkles and so on. This is a very nicely done with the help of the research profile of the skin by laser irradiation, then quantitatively evaluated all the lines, and it can be shown that this effect does exist, and is not just a placebo effect, when a person simply convinced that this is how it should be said, it acts in fact physically no effect occurred.

So here is an area for antioxidants, and there are many chemical compounds that are antioxidants, but the process of their creation - it is quite difficult, as with any drug, and in the case of antioxidants is difficult to prove their effectiveness.