Oxidative Stress and Biomaterials provides readers with the latest information on biomaterials and the oxidative stress that can pose an especially troubling challenge to their biocompatibility, especially given the fact that, at the cellular level, the tissue environment is a harsh landscape of precipitating proteins, infiltrating leukocytes, released oxidants, and fluctuations of pH which, even with the slightest shift in stasis, can induce a perpetual state of chronic inflammation. No material is 100% non-inflammatory, non-toxic, non-teratogenic, non-carcinogenic, non-thrombogenic, and non-immunogenic in all biological settings and situations. In this embattled terrain, the most we can hope for from the biomaterials we design is a type of “meso-compatibility, a material which can remain functional and benign for as long as required without succumbing to this cellular onslaught and inducing a local inflammatory reaction. Explores the challenges of designing and using biomaterials in order to minimize oxidative stress, reducing patterns of chronic inflammation and cell death Brings together the two fields of biomaterials and the biology of oxidative stress Provides approaches for the design of biomaterials with improved biocompatibility

Oxidative stress is a relatively new concept that has been widely implicated in biomedical sciences during the last 20 years. It significantly participates in the pathophysiology of highly prevalent diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia, atherosclerosis, acute renal failure, Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases, among others. The metabolism of oxygen by cells generates potentially deleterious reactive oxygen species (ROS). Under normal conditions the rate and magnitude of oxidant formation is balanced by the rate of oxidant elimination However, an imbalance between pro-oxidants and antioxidants results in oxidative stress. Increased ROS levels in the cell have a substantial impact either leading to defective cellular function, ageing, or disease. Therefore, a better understanding of the roles of ROS-mediated signalling in normal cellular function as well as in disease is necessary for developing therapeutic tools for oxidative stress-related pathologies. The potential beneficial role of antioxidants is discussed in the light of experimental studies, as well as clinical trials aimed to determine the outcome of patients. "Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants: Their Role in Human Disease" is a practical guide for pathophysiology of oxidative stress and the latest therapeutic advances to modulate the antioxidant defence. This includes evidence from clinical trials, regarding the use of antioxidants and preconditioning, to protect the organism against ROS.

There is an emerging concept that nitric oxide (NO), its derivatives and reactive oxygen intermediates (ROS) are the major determinants of the involvement of oxidant stress that contributes to the control of physiological cell signalling processes, blood flow regulation and pathological hypoxia. There is recent published evidence for additional functions of these oxygen metabolites in cardiac gene expression; functions that include the modulation of the cytokine response of lymphocytes and the regulation of immune cell apoptosis as well as immuno-deviating effects. In vitro and in vivo experimental models investigating the biological nature of ROS have shown that there is a concentration dependent effect of NO and that differences in cell sensitivity to NO may have an impact upon the degree of immune or inflammatory state. Disturbances in NO bio-availability leads to loss of cardioprotective actions within biological systems and in some cases may even increase oxidative stress and disease progression. Hence, considerable interest in identifying the mechanisms involved in their generation and implications have spurted in the hope that inhibition strategies can be developed either bio-materially or pharmacologically. This book brings together the emerging biological concepts of oxidative stress and its connotation in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory processes in biological systems.

Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Defense: Biomedical Value in Health and Diseases represent current findings on the impact of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of diseases and underlying mechanisms of antioxidants influencing health and disease processes. This book is divided into seven sections that describe how antioxidants defend oxidative stressmediated diseases as well as recent developments, future opportunities, and challenges. Sections 1 analyzes the role of oxidative stress in aging and associated diseases as well as the use of antioxidants in health maintenance, preventing and repairing injuries caused by oxidative stress. Section 2 represents the status of various antioxidants in cigarette smoking and antioxidant defense against exerciseinduced oxidative stress. Section 3 focuses on the effect of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration and the existing status of antioxidant therapy. Section 4 covers the impact of oxidative stress at different levels of chronic degenerative diseases, as well as treatment with antioxidants to revert and diminish the cellular injury. Section 5 offers the importance of antioxidants in abating the pathological processes involved in hypertension and stroke. Section 6 presents the complexity associated with oxidative stress and metabolic disorders as well as the potential of antioxidants used in amelioration of related pathologies. Section 7 discusses the antioxidant defense against oxidative stressmediated erectile dysfunctions and the significance of antioxidants in pregnancy. This book represents the copious set of specific research updates and diaphanous understanding of oxidative stressmediated cellular damages and role of antioxidants in disease processes from experienced and eminent academicians, researchers, and scientists from throughout the world. This book is suitable for professionals, academicians, students, researchers, scientists and industrialists around the world in the biomedical, health, and life science fields.