Superoxide: A two-edged sword

Superoxide (O-2(-)) is the compound obtained when oxygen is reduced by one electron. For a molecule with an unpaired electron, O-2(-) is surprisingly inert, its chief reaction being a dismutation in which it reacts with itself to form H2O2 and oxygen. The involvement of O-2(-) in biological systems was first revealed by the discovery in 1969 of superoxide dismutase, an enzyme that catalyzes the dismutation of O-2(-). Since then it has been found that biological systems produce a bewildering variety of reactive oxidants, all but a few arising ultimately from O-2(-). These oxidants include O-2(-) itself, H2O2 and alkyl peroxides, hydroxyl radical and other reactive oxidizing radicals, oxidized halogens and halamines, singlet oxygen, and peroxynitrite. These various oxidants are able to damage molecules in their environment, and are therefore very dangerous. They are thought to participate in the pathogenesis of a number of common diseases, including among others malignancy, by their ability to mutate the genome, and atherosclerosis, by their capacity for oxidizing lipoproteins. Their properties are put to good use, however, in host defense, where they serve as microbicidal and parasiticidal agents, and in biological signalling, where their liberation in small quantities results in redox-mediated changes in the functions of enzymes and other proteins.