Discuss how do free radicals effect living organisms and cells.
Here in the question asked by you there are two subparts, the question belonging to the biochemistry section is the B part, hence i will be answering to that subpart of the question i.e the B part.
Oxidative stress: Condition of the cell where free radicals outnumbers antioxidants and cause oxidative damage to the body i.e its a condition where there is disturbance in the balance between the antioxidants levels in the body and the production of reactive oxygen species/free radicals. Oxidative stress is associated with damage of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids.
Our body does not like free radicals because once free radicals are formed, a chain reaction occur which is not very acceptable by the body.
In the chain reaction the first free radical pulls an electron from the molecule and this lead to destabilisation of the molecule and turning it into a free radical. That molecule then takes an electron from another molecule agin in turn destabilising it and tuning it into a free radical like before. This creates a cascade or a domino effect that eventually keep disrupting and damaging the whole cell.
This free radical chain reaction break cell membranes, which can alter what molecules enters and exits the cell thus in turn regulating the total cell dynamics. The chain reaction may also change the structure of lipids that is not acceptable by the body and they may then end up trapping in an artery, most likely. The damaged molecules due to the cascade degradation may mutate and grow tumours leading to cancer or may change DNA code leading to much worse disease conditions.
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