Oxidative stress and cardiovascular injury: Part II: animal and human studies

This review so far has considered the role of vascular cellsin the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and novel approaches to their detection in integrated systems such as animal models of vascular disease and humans. We now turn attention to evidence consistent with a role for ROS in models of human disease and in discrete patient populations. We also briefly comment on the outcomes of clinical trials of antioxidants. Mainly, these have been disappointing. How-ever, it is premature to conclude that the oxidation hypothesis of disease causality has been adequately tested. ROS and Vascular Disease: Animal Studies Animal studies, for the most part, support a fundamental role for ROS in cardiovascular disease. Any controversy could in part reflect the use of ineffective antioxidants and the selec-tion of models in which ROS generation is of marginal relevance to the measured outcome. Both of these issue