Role of reactive aldehyde in cardiovascular diseases

There is increasing evidence that aldehydes generated endogenously during the degradation process of biological molecules are involved in many of the pathophysiologies associated with cardiovasular diseases such as atherosclerosis and the long-term complications of diabetes. Major sources of reactive aldehydes in vivo are lipid peroxidation, glycation, and amino acid oxidation. Although the types of aldehydes are varied, the important aldehydes that can exert biological effects relevant to the pathobiology of oxidant injury are represented by 2-alkenals, 4-hydroxy-2-alkenals, and ketoaldehydes. These aldehydes exhibit facile reactivity with proteins, generating stable products at the end of a series of reactions. The protein-bound aldehydes can be detected as constituents not only in in vitro oxidized low-density lipoproteins but also in animal models of atherosclerosis and in human patients with increased risk factors or clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis, indicating that they could indeed be involved in the caldiovascular pathology. On the other hand, a number of reactive aldehydes have been implicated as inducers in generating intracellular oxidative stress and activation of stress signaling pathways, that integrate with other signaling pathways to control cellular responses to the extracellular stimuli. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.