History

"One of the greatest needs in the field now is the availability of non-invasive test to probe oxidative stress status in humans"
William A. Pryor, Co-Editor-in Chief, Free Radical Biology & Medicine, 1989.

In 1996 the Division of Intramural Research of NIEHS held a workshop on Measurement of Oxidative Stress in Humans. Determining the oxidative stress status in humans is difficult because free radicals are reactive and short-lived, and, therefore, related oxidative stress markers must be found. In a 1990 workshop held by the National Cancer Institute that addressed the best method of measuring oxidative stress in humans, no consensus had been reached.

In order to evaluate currently available techniques, a group of ten experts was invited to present their research at the two-day NIEHS workshop. Scientists agreed that the TBARS measurement is no longer an acceptable marker for oxidative stress.

The general consensus was that no specific marker of oxidative stress was currently established and validated, and that it would be highly valuable to mount a study comparing different markers of oxidative stress measured with the same biological samples.