EFFECTS OF OXIDANTS AND ANTIOXIDANTS EVALUATED USING PARINARIC ACID AS A SENSITIVE PROBE FOR OXIDATIVE STRESS

Parinaric acid (PnA) is a fluorescent polyunsaturated fatty acid which can be used as a probe to study lipid peroxidation processes, The bas ic methodology is simple and sensitive, and offers a direct 'view' of the oxidative decay of a fatty acid and the effects of prooxidant and antioxidant factors, A distinctive feature of the PnA assay is that it does not measure a lipid peroxidation end product, but monitors lipid oxidative stress in its initial stages, This review highlights the me thodological characteristics of the PnA assay, and describes the vario us applications in which PnA and PnA derivatives have yielded useful i nformation. These applications range from oxidant and antioxidant stud ies in lipid model systems to comparative studies of oxidation process es in normal and pathological red blood cells, and also include studie s of lipoprotein oxidation.