Targeted metabolomics to study lipid peroxidation in biological systems
During normal cellular metabolism reactive oxygen species (ROS) are inevitably formed as by-products of respiration. ROS are extremely reactive molecules and can react with and damage surrounding DNA, protein and lipid molecules and subsequently alter their normal function in the cell. This oxidative damage is counter balanced by antioxidant and repair mechanisms, which are present in every aerobic cell. When the levels of oxidative damage increase or the antioxidant and repair capacity is inefficient to protect against this damage a state of oxidative stress occurs.