Review: Oxidative stress and disease

This communication briefly reviews aspects of oxidative stress and disease, particularly maturity onset cataract. The review considers a number of issues such as why lens and cataract research is important, what is oxidative stress, its relationship to disease and how does a tissue defend itself against such stress. Three diseases (chronic lung disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease) in which oxidative stress has differing roles are briefly discussed. The impact of oxidative stress upon the development of maturity onset cataract is considered and approaches are delineated which will establish the importance of such stress.