Free radicals and AGE products are important mediators of age-related diseases and ageing per se . Intake of antioxidants over the life-time determines, among other factors, the rate of ageing and the development of degenerative diseases. Interventive strategies such as soluble receptors for AGEs and effective antioxidants might become important therapeutic strategies in the near future. This combined symposium looks at new evidence of the role of free radicals and glycoxidative changes in ageing and age-related diseases. In dealing with this subject, it is useful to define the most important terms concisely.
Free radicals are ubiquitous in living things.
They are highly interactive intermediates, bearing unpaired electrons. They lead to irreversible reactions. Free radicals may occur as normal intermediates in metabolism or induced by injury to tissue. Oxidative stress occurs during injury to tissue which leads to cellular and metabolic responses and generates free radicals. There is ample evidence that ageing and thus life span correlate with free radical generation and antioxidative defense as well as with advanced glycation end products.