Inventory of biomarkers for oxidative stress

This inventory was carried out under the project 'Reducing uncertainties in the causality between inhalation exposure and health' prepared in the framework of strategic research at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). The aim of the project is to validate a model to reduce uncertainties in the causality between inhalation exposure and health effects. The underlying question here is whether health effects due to air pollution are facilitated by an oxidative stress mechanism. This biomarker inventory for oxidative stress is one of the products resulting from this project. Oxidative stress results either due to increased exposure to reactive oxygen species or to the presence of decreased antioxidant defences, resulting in damage to macromolecules. Biomarkers that could be of interest for studying the role of oxidative stress in air pollution-related health effects are carbonyl levels as a measure for oxidized proteins, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances for total lipid oxidation and 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine for oxidative injury to DNA. In the antioxidant response, superoxide dismutase, heme oxygenase, metallothioneins, and thioredoxin reductase and glutathion could be valuable markers