Intro To Oxidation

For the background material on understanding this post, start with Hydrogen Peroxide Flips The Switch. In most cells, most of the time, it is ideal to be in a state of oxidative balance. The simplest measure for this is the percentage of a small molecule called glutathione, sometimes referred to as the body’s “master antioxidant”, …

Oxidative Balance: A Simple Regulatory Loop Read More »

For background information on this post, start by reading the introduction to oixdation. Terms you should understand before reading this article are superoxide and ROS. Additionally, you should understand the basics of the human antioxidant system. Hydrogen Peroxide is the Signal Superoxide is a free radical which is produced during metabolism at the bottleneck in …

Hydrogen Peroxide Flips the Switch Read More »

Oxidation (in a biological context) is the flow of electrons from elements like Hydrogen and Carbon to Oxygen Oxygen is very reactive. Chlorophyll took its electrons away and it would very much like to get them back. In metabolism – the oxidation of starch and fat – free radicals, notably superoxide, are produced from Oxygen. …

Summary of The Introduction to Life in a Bottle Read More »

If you’been reading through the Introduction to Fire in a Bottle series, I explained the concept of oxidation, discussed the oxygen catastrophe and its implications for evolution, I introduced our unlikely hero superoxide and then we met our bodies inbuilt antioxidant defense system. Along the way I introduced the key point that Reactive Oxygen Species …

Two Elegant Experiments Demonstrating that ROS is The Signal Read More »

In the previous post, we introduced our unlikely hero superoxide, a free radical. We also introduced peroxide and the term “Reactive Oxygen Species” (ROS), the term that refers collectively to superoxide and peroxide and others in the family of pro-oxidant molecules. We evolved to thrive in the presence of oxygen and ROS after the Great …

Meet Your Antioxidant System Read More »

When I took oncology at Cornell in the mid-90’s, the root cause of cancer was explained in the following way. Certain things – such as ionizing radiation from a nuclear explosion – cause free radical formation. The free radicals can damage the DNA, causing genetic mutations. When enough mutations accumulated in key genes affecting the …

Superoxide: An Unlikely Hero Read More »

The primordial atmosphere of the earth didn’t contain Oxygen (O2). The atmosphere was a “reducing atmosphere”, the exact opposite of today’s “oxidizing atmosphere”. Somewhere along the line life evolved. Single-celled organisms. Weirdos by today’s standards. Methanogens and sulfate-reducing microorganisms. That was just life for a couple billion years. And then chlorophyll evolved. Chlorophyll changes everything. …

The Great Oxygenation Read More »

Humans are electrical creatures. Our basic biology is controlled by the movement of electrons. In a biological system, instead of moving through a wire, the electrons move from one molecule to another. These reactions are called redox reactions, which is short for reduction and oxidation. when an electron moves from one molecule to another, the …

A Very Gentle Introduction to Oxidation Read More »

Fire is a positive feedback loop where atmospheric oxygen (O2) oxidizes the hydrocarbon bonds (the bonds between a carbon and a hydrogen atom) in common fuel sources like wood, paper, fat, cellulose, starch, sugar, natural gas and gasoline. The oxidation reaction gives off heat. The heat causes more oxidation which causes more heat which causes …

Fire In a Bottle Read More »