Potentiometric study of antioxidant activity: development and prospects

The increasing interest in the study of the antioxidant activity of different objects is caused by an unbalance between the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the performance of the antioxidant system in humans under certain conditions, which leads to oxidative stress and pathological states of the organism. This article presents a brief critical review of the methods that are used to measure integrated antioxidant activity (AOA). It is shown that the most promising methods for measuring AOA are electrochemical ones, particularly potentiometry, as it best fits the nature of the processes causing oxidative stress. The article gives the theoretical rational for requirements that an oxidizer of antioxidants (AO) should meet. The work presents the thermodynamic grounds for the use of an earlier proposed mediator system, kinetics of chemical reactions between AO and the mediator system. In order to confirm reliability and accuracy of the results, numerous correlation studies were conducted, aiming to compare the data obtained with the use the proposed method and independent analytical methods. The article presents the results of the potentiometric study of AOA for a variety of objects, including individual antioxidant → nutritional supplements → food → blood and blood fractions.