Oxidative Stress in Liver Diseases: Pathogenesis, Prevention, and Therapeutics

Reactive oxygen species- (ROS-) induced oxidative stress has been implicated in various forms of diseases. Excessive ROS generation depletes the endogenous antioxidants that subsequently fail to counteract all the ROS leading to cellular injury. Alcohol consumption, high-calorie diet, drug overdose, environmental pollutants, heavy metals, and so forth have been implicated towards manifestation of liver injury via generation of ROS. Hepatocyte mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum are the major site for ROS generation in various forms of liver diseases. Hence, antioxidants are frequently used to treat oxidative liver injury. Although preclinical results are promising for antioxidant therapy in treating liver diseases, evidences obtained from clinical studies are unclear. Further, detailed investigation on the mechanism of ROS-mediated hepatocyte injury and protective role of antioxidants could provide insight into pathogenesis of hepatocyte injury and open new avenues for diagnosis and development of biomarkers and pharmacological therapies. This special issue is a complication of five preclinical research articles and a review accepted from many submissions following a peer review process