Biomarkers of oxidative stress in neurodegenerative diseases

This chapter discusses current knowledge of oxidative stress in relation to neurodegeneration. Many products of oxidative and nitrosative stress have been proposed and studied in order to find biomarkers of disease, since a validated biomarker is especially important in the case of neurodegenerative diseases. The chapter reviews involvement of oxidative stress in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It also discusses protein carbonylation and protein nitration that have been used as common makers to study the effect of reactive oxygen species/reactive nitrogen species on proteins. Lipid peroxidation is a process resulting from damage to cellular membranes mediated by reactive species that generate several relatively stable end products, including aldehydes, such as malondialdehyde, 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal, acrolein kong, and isoprostanes, which can be measured in plasma or tissues as markers of oxidative stress.