[Reactive oxygen metabolites, antioxidant activity, antioxidants and aging]

The authors refer to literary data on the much discussed issues of reactive oxygen metabolites, presumably involved in a variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes as well as in ageing. The other part of the paper deals with intra- and extracellular antioxidant mechanisms and the feasibility of using different antioxidants to constrain the deleterious effects produced by reactive oxygen products in pathological processes which accelerate ageing. The authors' own observations are also presented.