Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) are formed as a byproduct of lipid peroxidation (i.e. as degradation products of fats) which can be detected by the TBARS assay using thiobarbituric acid as a reagent.
[2] Because reactive oxygen species (ROS) have extremely short half-lives, they are difficult to measure directly.
These and other considerations from the extensive literature on MDA, TBA reactivity, and oxidative lipid degradation support the conclusion that MDA determination and the TBA test can offer, at best, a narrow and somewhat empirical window on the complex process of lipid peroxidation.
Use of MDA analysis and/or the TBA test and interpretation of sample MDA content and TBA test response in studies of lipid peroxidation require caution, discretion, and (especially in biological systems) correlative data from other indices of fatty peroxide formation and decomposition.
The cases of Urooj Khan, lottery winner of Chicago, and Autumn Klein, doctor of Pittsburgh, both fit these characteristics, since neither patient exhibited cyanide poisoning symptoms, yet both appeared to have suffered heart attacks, with Urooj Khan's blocked arteries noted at autopsy[7] and Autumn Klein's evidence for heart abnormalities noted at trial and as a central part of her husband's conviction appeal.