Role of reactive oxygen species and superoxide dismutase in cartilage aging and pathology

In the last two decades, there has been an explosive interest in the role of oxidative stress in experimental and clinical medicine. Oxidative stress is strongly correlated with a number of age-related diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and atherosclerosis. Repeated intra-articular injections of the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) have slowed down progression of rheumatoid arthritis. Unfortunately, none of the native human SODs possess attractive pharmacological properties to make them a clinically useful therapeutic drug, owing to their rapid renal clearance. To overcome these limitations, several synthetic low-molecular-weight compounds that mimic the effects of SOD were developed and have been shown to be efficient in vivo. The use of SOD for clinical application still receives great interest and attention. However, the limitation to the injection route of drug administration has not yet been overcome. Current research continues to investigate new strateg...