Measurement of Oxidative Stress Status in Human Populations: A Critical Need for a Metabolomic Profiling

Oxidative stress (OS) is characteristic of a diverse set of physiological and pathophysiological states. For example, human health problems associated with oxidative stress include Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, myocardial infarction, cancer, diabetes, various inflammations, renal failure, and atherosclerosis as well as aging. It has become routine and convenient to screen body fluids, including blood (serum or plasma), saliva, and urine, as well as exhaled breath for small molecules that are biomarkers of oxidative stress to ascertain the oxidative stress status (OSS) of a particular targeted organ or the whole body. Unfortunately, circulating levels of oxidation products and/or antioxidants often do not truly represent the tissue/organ/whole body state of oxidative stress or antioxidant status due to the diverse nature of oxidative reactions, metabolic status, and tissue retention. Hence, the analyst has to bear several important points in mind while ascertaining the state of oxidative stress or antioxidant status by measuring one or two chosen biomarkers in one or two selected sampling sites at any given time.