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Quantitative measurement of hydroxyl radical induced DNA double‐strand breaks and the effect of N ‐acetyl‐ l ‐cysteine
Author(s) -
Su Meihong,
Yang Yao,
Yang Guoliang
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2006.06.060
Subject(s) - radical , chemistry , hydroxyl radical , dna , dna damage , reactive oxygen species , cysteine , biophysics , superoxide , antioxidant , molecule , free radical theory of aging , biochemistry , oxidative phosphorylation , photochemistry , organic chemistry , biology , enzyme
Reactive oxygen species, such as hydroxyl or superoxide radicals, can be generated by exogenous agents as well as from normal cellular metabolism. Those radicals are known to induce various lesions in DNA, including strand breaks and base modifications. These lesions have been implicated in a variety of diseases such as cancer, arteriosclerosis, arthritis, neurodegenerative disorders and others. To assess these oxidative DNA damages and to evaluate the effects of the antioxidant N ‐acetyl‐ l ‐cysteine (NAC), atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to image DNA molecules exposed to hydroxyl radicals generated via Fenton chemistry. AFM images showed that the circular DNA molecules became linear after incubation with hydroxyl radicals, indicating the development of double‐strand breaks. The occurrence of the double‐strand breaks was found to depend on the concentration of the hydroxyl radicals and the duration of the reaction. Under the conditions of the experiments, NAC was found to exacerbate the free radical‐induced DNA damage.