Isotope effect on lipid peroxidation

Correspondingly, drugs that stop the chain reaction of lipid peroxidation have preventive and therapeutic potential.

Small molecules used as drugs are recognized as “foreign” to the body, and an organism’s defense systems often mount a response.

These molecules are termed “essential dietary components” and serve as building blocks that are incorporated into larger structures such as proteins and cell membranes.

PUFA membrane components are particularly vulnerable to damage (oxidation) by reactive oxygen species (ROS) as part of both normal and pathological metabolism.

[4] LPO may damage hundreds to thousands of PUFA residues in PUFA-rich neuronal, mitochondrial and retinal membranes.

The chain oxidation proceeds inexorably through multiple steps, destroying lipid membranes and generating highly reactive toxic secondary products that damage numerous biomolecules, such as proteins and DNA, irreversibly.

A quarter of this 20%, i.e. 5% of the total body energy expenditure, is used by the brain to recycle damaged lipids in neuronal membranes.

Diagram of the structure of a lipid bilayer. The lipids with incorporating unsaturated fatty acids (blue) increase the fluidity of membranes compared to membranes made of only saturated fatty acids (black).
The three most stable isotopes of hydrogen, all having the same number of protons (1) and different mass due to different number of neutrons: protium ( mass = 1, stable), deuterium (mass = 2, stable), and tritium (mass = 3, radioactive).
An animated model of a chain reaction with slow, oxidation-resistant elements