where are reactive oxygen species generated in the cell
Reactive oxygen species ROS are produced intracellularly through multiple mechanisms and depending on the cell and tissue types, the major sources being the "professional" producers of ROS: NADPH oxidase (NOX) complexes (7 distinct isoforms) in cell membranes, mitochondria, peroxisomes, and endoplasmic reticulum.[6][7] Mitochondria convert energy for the cell into a usable form, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The process in which ATP is produced, called oxidative phosphorylation, involves the transport of protons (hydrogen ions) across the inner mitochondrial membrane by means of the electron transport chain. In the electron transport chain, electrons are passed through a series of proteins via oxidation-reduction reactions, with each acceptor protein along the chain having a greater reduction potential than the previous. The last destination for an electron along this chain is an oxygen molecule. In normal conditions, the oxygen is reduced to produce water; however, in about 0.1–2% of electrons passing through the chain (this number derives from studies in isolated mitochondria, though the exact rate in live organisms is yet to be fully agreed upon), oxygen is instead prematurely and incompletely reduced to give the superoxide radical (•O− 2), most well documented for Complex I and Complex III.[8] Superoxide is not particularly reactive by itself, but can inactivate specific enzymes or initiate lipid peroxidation in its protonated form, hydroperoxyl HO• 2. The pKa of hydroperoxyl is 4.8. Thus, at physiological pH, the majority will exist as superoxide anion.