This award supports cooperative research in cellular biochemistry to be performed by Arthur I. Cederbaum of Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York and Susana Puntarulo and Alberto Boveris, both in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. Metals, especially ferric complexes are required to promote the formation of oxidizing species responsible for DNA and cellular damage. This work will study the interaction of various ferric complexes, including ferritin, with organelles such as isolated nucleii and their ability to catalyze the generation of oxygen-active radicals in rat liver nucleii. This collaborative effort will bring together the expertise of two laboratories concerned with the role of transition metals in catalyzing the production of active oxygen radicals by biological systems. The work will provide new insights into oxygen radical formation and lipid peroxidation in such systems.
