ABSTRACT
The discovery of superoxide dismutase was inextricably linked to studies on xanthine oxidase. If one reads, for example, the historical background as summarized by Irwin Fridovich in his introductory chapter in Larry Oberley’s book on SOD (also published by CRC Press), the reader learns that it was through studies of the biochemistry of one electron reductions that the identity of SOD eventually came to light. The xanthine oxidase business has never been the same, and there are now hundreds of laboratories around the world adding the enzyme and suitable substrate to a plethora of test systems, hoping to find yet another phenomenon that can be linked to oxy radicals. Thus it is fitting that this section starts with a discussion of oxy radical generation using XO.
