A Tentative Classification of Antioxidants: Which Role They Play when Protecting Biological Targets from Oxidative Stress Induced Damage?

By studying the protection of oxidative stress induced damage
in biomolecules by several groups of antioxidants, from the “side
of the antioxidant”, that is, by observing the reaction of the
antioxidant itself with an oxidizing species and characterizing the
resulting products, it was possible to classify the antioxidants into
three different kinds. An antioxidant can act as a scavenger of the
oxidizing species, repair a damaged biological molecule, or give
new products with antioxidising activity, starting an antioxidising
cascade. These three effects – scavenging, repair and cascade –
can act in a separate or a cumulative way. This new classification
of antioxidants by type of action can bring a new insight on
the comprehension of the protection mechanisms and open
perspectives to the design of new and more efficient antioxidants