[Antioxidants: the therapy of the future?]

In the present review piece, we analyze the formation of free radicals as a consequence of the cellular metabolism in aerobe organism, and the beneficious and harmful actions thereof on cellular structures. The balance existing between free radicals and the so-called antioxidant defenses, is a key factor for preventing the development of noxious processes at the cellular and tissue level. In accordance with the present scientific knowledge, the excessive production of free radicals in the organism, and the imbalance between the concentrations of these and the antioxidant defenses, may be related to processes such as aging and several diseases, among which we find cancer, ischemic processes, senile dementia, diabetes, pulmonary and pancreatic diseases, lupus erythematosus, cirrhosis, intestinal inflammatory disease, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, arteriosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, diseases of the central nervous system and the brain. According to the results of numerous research works conducted with the administration of several molecules with an antioxidant activity, one is beginning to see what their role will be in the pharmacological therapeutics for the treatment of a large number of patients such as those with burns, traumas, septics, shock, surgery, transplantation, radiation or chemotherapy, respiratory distress syndrome, AIDS, etc. We may possibly be facing a therapeutic tool which is of great interest in the clinical area, which shall be developed in the near future, as clinical trials which permit confirmation of their efficacy are conducted.