ABSTRACT
The notion that reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs) may be important in inflammation was initiated by a publication in 1969 in which McCord and Fridovich described an enzyme, superoxide dismutase, which scavenges superoxide anion (McCord and Fridovich, 1969). They reasoned that since phagocytizing neutrophils (the effector cells of the acute inflammatory response) release large amounts of superoxide extracellularly and superoxide dismutase possesses anti-inflammatory activity, the superoxide anion and other oxygen metabolites may be important chemical mediators of the inflammatory process (McCord, 1974). This hypothesis has received considerable support from a large number of studies over the past decade, which indicate that partially reduced oxygen metabolites are important mediators of ischemic, toxic, and immune-mediated tissue injury (McCord and Fridovich, 1969; Halliwell and Gutteridge, 1990).
