Highly reactive molecules, because they have a single electron, because unpaid. Many physiological functions generate free radicals (energy production, immune defenses, etc.) but their effects are offset by the presence of antioxidants. When the level of free radicals rises (tobacco, alcohol, pollution, radiation) or when the antioxidant intake decreases, an imbalance is created which can cause an attack of any element of the cell: membranes, proteins, genes … DNA of chaue cell genes would be struck 10,000 times a day. Most of the lesions thus generated are repaired. But with age they are less and less well repaired. The accumulation of unwanted or mutations lesions, explains the phenomena of senescence and the appearance of degenerative pathologies whose frequency increases with age, such as cancers.
What are free radicals (also called oxygen reactive species)?
