Fig. 3. ROS and lipid peroxidation. ROS contain free radicals from atoms that have one or more unpaired electron(s) (right panel). The imbalance in electrons results in the high reactivity of the free radicals. The process of lipid peroxidation (left panel) begins with the ROS attack on double bounds of PUFA. The carbon radical tends to be stabilized by a molecular rearrangement to form a conjugated diene. Under aerobic conditions conjugated dienes are able to combine with O2 to produce a peroxyl radical, ROO−.
