Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Nov 2;16(11):26087-124.
doi: 10.3390/ijms161125942.

The Role of Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants in Liver Diseases

Sha Li  1 , Hor-Yue Tan  2 , Ning Wang  3 , Zhang-Jin Zhang  4 , Lixing Lao  5 , Chi-Woon Wong  6 , Yibin Feng  7
Affiliations
Review

The Role of Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants in Liver Diseases

Sha Li et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

A complex antioxidant system has been developed in mammals to relieve oxidative stress. However, excessive reactive species derived from oxygen and nitrogen may still lead to oxidative damage to tissue and organs. Oxidative stress has been considered as a conjoint pathological mechanism, and it contributes to initiation and progression of liver injury. A lot of risk factors, including alcohol, drugs, environmental pollutants and irradiation, may induce oxidative stress in liver, which in turn results in severe liver diseases, such as alcoholic liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Application of antioxidants signifies a rational curative strategy to prevent and cure liver diseases involving oxidative stress. Although conclusions drawn from clinical studies remain uncertain, animal studies have revealed the promising in vivo therapeutic effect of antioxidants on liver diseases. Natural antioxidants contained in edible or medicinal plants often possess strong antioxidant and free radical scavenging abilities as well as anti-inflammatory action, which are also supposed to be the basis of other bioactivities and health benefits. In this review, PubMed was extensively searched for literature research. The keywords for searching oxidative stress were free radicals, reactive oxygen, nitrogen species, anti-oxidative therapy, Chinese medicines, natural products, antioxidants and liver diseases. The literature, including ours, with studies on oxidative stress and anti-oxidative therapy in liver diseases were the focus. Various factors that cause oxidative stress in liver and effects of antioxidants in the prevention and treatment of liver diseases were summarized, questioned, and discussed.

Keywords: antioxidant; foods; liver diseases; medicinal plants; oxidative stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The redox homeostasis in the liver.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The general mechanism scheme of oxidative stress induced by various factors on liver disease.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The metabolic process of ethanol in hepatocyte and the generation of ROS contributing to the liver diseases.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Finkel T., Holbrook N.J. Oxidants, oxidative stress and the biology of ageing. Nature. 2000;408:239–247. doi: 10.1038/35041687. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Apel K., Hirt H. Reactive oxygen species: Metabolism, oxidative stress, and signal transduction. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 2004;55:373–399. doi: 10.1146/annurev.arplant.55.031903.141701. - DOI - PubMed
    1. McCord J.M. The evolution of free radicals and oxidative stress. Am. J. Med. 2000;108:652–659. doi: 10.1016/S0002-9343(00)00412-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mittler R. Oxidative stress, antioxidants and stress tolerance. Trends Plant Sci. 2002;7:405–410. doi: 10.1016/S1360-1385(02)02312-9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sanchez-Valle V., Chavez-Tapia N.C., Uribe M., Mendez-Sanchez N. Role of oxidative stress and molecular changes in liver fibrosis: A review. Curr. Med. Chem. 2012;19:4850–4860. doi: 10.2174/092986712803341520. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms