Interpreting the role of antioxidants in vivo: A cautionary tale

Bacteria have a remarkable ability to sense environmental stresses and to respond to these stressors by adapting their metabolism and physiology. In recent publications, investigators have suggested that multiple stresses that cause cell death share the mechanistic feature of stimulating the formati...

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Published inMolecular microbiology Vol. 122; no. 1; pp. 129 - 132
Main Authors Downs, Diana M., Poole, Robert K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2024
Subjects
Antioxidants
Antioxidants - metabolism
Antioxidants - pharmacology
Cell death
Environmental stress
Escherichia coli - drug effects
Escherichia coli - genetics
Escherichia coli - metabolism
In vivo methods and tests
Microbiology
Mortality
Oxidants
Oxidative Stress - drug effects
Oxidizing agents
Reactive oxygen species
Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism
Stress concentration
antioxidants
reactive oxygen species
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Summary:Bacteria have a remarkable ability to sense environmental stresses and to respond to these stressors by adapting their metabolism and physiology. In recent publications, investigators have suggested that multiple stresses that cause cell death share the mechanistic feature of stimulating the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). A central piece of evidence cited in these claims is the ability of exogenous antioxidant compounds to mitigate stress‐related cell death. The validity of attributing a positive effect of exogenous antioxidants to ROS‐mediated stress is challenged by an important study by Korshunov and Imlay in this issue of Molecular Microbiology. This study reports biochemical data that convincingly show that some commonly used antioxidants quench oxidants orders of magnitude too slowly to have a significant effect on the concentration of ROS in the cell. Under conditions where antioxidants minimize cell death, they also slow growth. Significantly, slowing cell growth by other means has the same restorative effect as adding an antioxidant. Based on the solid biochemical and genetic data, Korshunov and Imlay make the case for discarding the use of antioxidants to diagnose conditions that generate increased internal ROS production.
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ISSN:0950-382X
1365-2958
1365-2958
DOI:10.1111/mmi.15292