Reactive oxygen species and inflammation

: Inflammatory reactions induce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS): the reverse sequence of these events is also true. Moreover, many components of these reactions interact with a synergistic effect. In this short comprehensive review we analyze some of these interactions which may have pathological effects. Inflammatory reactions are triggered off by exogenous or endogenous aggressions and are characterized by cellular and vascular events. The activated leucocytes leave the circulating blood and reach the site of the aggression where they release a large amount of ROS as well as the content of their granules. The granular content is made in a large part by molecules with killing and degradative activities such as myeloperoxidase, defensins, elastase, collagenase, cathepsins and lysozyme. The inflammatory reaction is beneficial for humans when its effects are limited to the pathogens. The insufficiency of a component of the inflammatory reaction such as the production of ROS which is seen, for example in chronic granulomatous disease, leads to severe and recurrent bacterial infections. In other situations inflammatory reactions are deleterious because they are directed against normal tissues instead or in addition to pathogens. In some cases the behaviour of the phagocytes is modified because they have been primed by inflammatory molecules such tumor necrosis factor, LPS, interleukins or interferons. Priming often leads to a decreased speed of locomotion of the leucocytes with an increased susceptibility to their stimuli. The combination of these effects leads to a premature release by the phagocytes of their killing and degradative factors. Production of ROS such as that seen during irradiation, drug metabolism, or ischemia followed by reperfusion for example, induces inflammatory reactions with a secondary amplification of ROS production. Acute ROS production can also lead to thrombosis, whereas chronic ROS production can induce a chronic inflammatory reaction of the endothelium with atherosclerosis as a possible consequence. Some examples are also given to show that ROS might control positively or negatively the activity of inflammatory molecules. The multiplicity of the cross reactions between ROS and inflammation allows to suggest that drugs that disconnect these two events might be therapeutically used.