Editorial: The Role of Reactive Oxygen Species in Chemical and Biochemical Processes
Giuseppe Vitiello, Loredana Serpe, Alfonso Blázquez‐Castro
Abstract
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are small reactive molecules that play critical roles in the regulation of various cell functions ROS are relatively short-lived molecules that contain oxygen atoms and display halflives (t 1/2 ) in the range of nanoseconds to hours. In many chemical and biological processes, they are usually formed as molecules, ions, or radicals, such as hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ), hydroxyl radical ( OH), hydroperoxyl radical (HOO ), superoxide radical ( O 2 -), hypochlorite ion (ClO -), or peroxynitrite (ONOO -) (Lushchak, 2014). Depending on the specific type, ROS can play significantly different roles, participating in many important processes In biological and biochemical processes, ROS are natural products of oxygen metabolism, playing a key role in cell signal transduction and homeostasis. Under environmental pressure, a dramatic increase in ROS levels can cause oxidative stress (Das and Roychoudhury, 2014), leading to cellular damage or triggering various diseases, including neurological disorders (Balance et al.,