These symptoms are the result of increased blood flow into the affected area. The blood vessels actually change size, making room for immune cells to travel through the bloodstream to the site of injured or infected tissue. This process also produces a number of chemicals that orchestrate the process and that can cause pain and fatigue. In this process, free radicals are normally generated, according to Maret G. Traber, Ph.D., principal investigator at the Linus Pauling Institute and associate professor of nutrition at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Free radicals are molecules that can cause damage to healthy cells by stealing electrons from other molecules in cells.
Macrophages are amoeba-like cells that engulf bacteria and foreign matter.
Inside the voluminous macrophages are sacs of hydrogen peroxide, and when the invaders are trapped in these sacs, they re killed by the interaction with hydrogen peroxide. As inflammation progresses, some free radicals end up on the wrong side of the battlefield. They may react with the membranes of cells that are essentially innocent bystanders, damaging some of the molecules in those otherwise healthy cells. If the healthy cells membranes are damaged enough, the cells may be killed or maimed. If there are antioxidants in the neighborhood during this reaction, less damage may occur.