Micelle-Enhanced Disproportionation of the Superoxide Anion

摘要

The role of the superoxide anion (O sub 2- ) in lipid peroxidation has generated intense interest in the past decade. Recently it was demonstrated that while O sub 2- does not react with linoleic acid, the perhydroxyl radical (HO sub 2 ) does react at a sufficiently high rate for the reaction to be biologically significant, and this observation has been extended to the other major polyunsaturated fatty acids. In this paper, preliminary investigation of the lifetime of O sub 2- in the presence of fatty acid micelles suggests an enhanced production of HO sub 2 near the micellar surface. This observation has important ramifications for the potential toxicity of O sub 2- at membrane surfaces. (ERA citation 08:005734)