Reactive oxygen species (ROS) regulate several physiological functions and play key role in several biological functions. Humans now live in a sea of free radicals with ever increasing exposure to both exogenous and endogenous source of free radicals (electromagnetic radiation, persistence organic pollutants, insecticides, pesticides, high temperature, psychological stress, smoking, excess alcohol consumption, sedentary life style, varicocele, infection and inflammation). Studies from our laboratory on normozoospermic infertile men and couples with idiopathic RSA and couples with more than 2 children with congenital malformations with unexplained aetiology has shown that systemic and testicular oxidative stress and oxidative damage to sperm DNA is the underlying aetiology in all these disorders believed to be idiopathic. Oxidative stress damages all biomolecules like proteins, lipids and carbohydrates and even mt and nuclear DNA. Free radicals are generated as byproducts of mt oxidative phosphorylation and thus target the mt which are both the source and target of free radicals. Supraphysiological free radical levels damage the mt which produce less ATP and more free radicals. Free radicals target both somatic and germ cells but the sperm a highly polarized cell is most vulnerable to oxidative stress by virtue of it losing majority of cytosolic antioxidants during spermiogenesis and being very rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Being transcriptionally and translationally inert it has only limited DNA damage detection and repair mechanism.Thus it is most vulnerable to oxidative damage and depends largely on the oocyte post fertilization to remove the damage as it only has OGG1 but lacks APE and XRCC1 . However in contrast oocyte has very low levels of OGG1 but has APE and XRCC1 thus both work in concert to repair the DNA damage. However extensive DNA damage can overwhelm the oocyte repair capacity and lead to persistence of mutagenic lesions in DNA which then are found in every cell of the zygote if not removed prior to first mitotic division.This can have serious consequences causing pre and post implantation losses, congenital malformations and even childhood cancers. Thus every effort should be made to prevent oxidative stress in testicular and epididymal tissue, since in majority of cases oxidative stress is caused by a host of modifiable factors (smoking, sedentary lifestyle, excess alcohol intake, obesity) simple changes in social habits and adoption of healthy lifestyle can prevent OS and DNA damage. Delaying marriage and having children at an older age may compound the problem further as sperm tends to accumulate damage and has more denovo germ line mutations due to more cell divisions and also because of accumulation of oxidative DNA lesions. Thus in studies from our lab have shown that sporadic cancers like Retinoblastoma usually affect the last born child when the paternal age is beyond 35 years. Recent studies from our lab have also documented that meditation and yoga are highly effective in reducin...
a b s t r a c tIntroduction: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) serve several physiological functions. At supraphysiological levels they participate in the pathophysiology of many diseases by damaging biomolecules. In several disease conditions and following exposure to insecticides, pesticides and organic pollutants there is oxidative stress. Psychological stress and depression are known to raise cortisol levels and cause oxidative stress. So, this study was planned with the aim to measure and establish baseline ROS levels in whole blood in normal healthy individuals and to investigate the effect of yoga on ROS levels and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels which is an oxidative DNA damage marker.Method: Whole blood ROS levels was measured in 175 healthy individuals by chemiluminescence method using luminol as a probe. Levels of blood ROS and 8-OHdG were also measured in 50 healthy individuals following a 10 days pretested yoga programme. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 15 software.
Results: The median whole blood ROS value in the healthy individuals was 1266.0 RLU/min/ 10 4 neutrophil (Minimum e 573.0; Maximum e 2345.0). The mean ROS levels post yoga (1020.81 ± 0.79 RLU/minute/10 4 neutrophil) was significantly lower (p ¼ 0.024) as compared to pre yoga (1215.07 ± 0.88 RLU/minute/10 4 neutrophil). The 8-OHdG levels post yoga (9367.57 ± 2709.58 pg/ml) was also significantly lower (p < 0.041) as compared to pre yoga (10268.23 ± 3349.71 pg/ml). Discussion: Baseline ROS value in the whole blood can act as a diagnostic tool in various clinical conditions and exposure to several environmental modulators can disrupt ROS homeostasis and life style intervention like yoga can decrease ROS levels.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.