Oxidative stress mediated cardiac apoptosis

Abstract: Cardiovascular diseases are one of the most common diseases all around the world. In both acute and chronic cardiac diseases, apoptosis is the primary pathway of disease nature and according to current studies apoptotic pathway inhibition has an important role in cardiac disease tretament procedures. There are several studies regarding clarification of molecular pathways of cardiac apoptosis in several heart diseases. Oxidative stress could be defined as imbalance between the antioxidant defense systems and high concentrations of reactive species that arose from cellular processes and this mechanism also initiates apoptosis in cardiac cells. In the pathogenesis of apoptosis mediated cardiac diseases, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are the main oxidative stress products that play an important role in complex signaling pathway as secondary messengers. Here, we  review  the current status of knowledge on ROS induced cardiac apoptosis in heart diseases. Key words: Cardiac apoptosis, oxidative stress, reactive oxygen species