On the history of oxidative stress: Concept and some aspects of current development

Oxidative stress as a concept in redox biology and medicine has witnessed fulminant development of the past 30-odd years. It is a global concept, defined as “an imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants in favor of the oxidants, leading to a disruption of redox signaling and control and/or molecular damage” (Sies H, Jones DP: Oxidative stress. In Encyclopedia of stress, 2nd Ed., Fink G, Editor. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2007:45-48). Physiological (low-level) oxidative stress is used in redox signaling and redox regulation, termed oxidative eustress, whereas higher burden (supraphysiological) leads to disrupted redox signaling and/or oxidative damage to biomolecules, termed oxidative distress. There are powerful oxidative stress response systems. The challenge for the future is to design methods to obtain detailed information on spatiotemporal redox patterns and their regulation for application in specific settings.