KINETIC MODELING OF IN-VITRO LIPID-PEROXIDATION EXPERIMENTS - LOW-LEVEL VALIDATION OF A MODEL OF IN-VIVO LIPID-PEROXIDATION

Kinetic modelling overcomes some of the drawbacks of purely intuitive thinking in integrating information accumulated on chemical reactions involved in oxidative stress. However, it is important to assess if cu rrent knowledge about the reactions that mediate lipid peroxidation al ready allows satisfactory modelling of this process in near-to-physiol ogical conditions. In this paper, a set of increasingly complex in vit ro experiments on antioxidants (alpha-tocopherol and ascorbate) and li pid peroxidation in heterogeneous systems is simulated. Quantitative t o semiquantitative agreement is found between experimental and simulat ion results. In addition, this theoretical analysis provided useful in sights, suggested new hypotheses and experiments and pointed out relev ant aspects needing further research. The results encourage and serve as partial validation for the formulation of relatively detailed mathe matical models of in vivo lipid peroxidation. Some important aspects o f the formulation and analysis of such models are discussed.