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Biomarkers

F2-isoprostanes

DEF2-Isoprostane

F2-isoprostanes are markers of oxidative stress in your body. They form when free radicals attack a fat (arachidonic acid) in your cell membranes, creating compounds that look like prostaglandin F2α. They end up in your blood and urine, where the most-measured one is 8-iso-PGF2α. Here is why they are useful: their production tracks how fast fats are being oxidized inside you, and it does not depend much on the fat in your diet. That makes urinary F2-isoprostanes the most reliable in-body marker of system-wide oxidative stress. Levels run high in smokers, people with obesity or diabetes, and patients with heart or brain disease. They fall with antioxidant-rich diets, caloric restriction, and exercise. And in population studies, higher levels predict future heart events and go with faster biological aging.

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Sources

  1. Morrow JD, Hill KE, Burk RF, Nammour TM, Badr KF, Roberts LJ 2nd. (1990). A series of prostaglandin F2-like compounds are produced in vivo in humans by a non-cyclooxygenase, free radical-catalyzed mechanism. *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA*doi:10.1073/pnas.87.23.9383