Determination of the antioxidants' ability to scavenge free radicals using biosensors

Abstract

Free radicals are highly reactive molecules generated during cellular metabolism. However, their overproduction results in oxidative stress, a deleterious process that can damage cell structures, including lipids and membranes, proteins and DNA. Antioxidants respond to this problem, scavenging free radicals. This chapter critically reviews the electrochemical biosensors developed for the evaluation of the antioxidant capacity of specific compounds. Due to the ability of these devices to perform simple, fast and reliable analysis, they are promising biotools for the assessment of antioxidant properties. © 2010 Landes Bioscience and Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.