The repair of oxidized amino acids by antioxidants.

Natural and synthetic antioxidants have been shown to repair tryptophan radicals produced from the one-electron oxidation of the free tryptophan amino acid. It has also been observed that both tryptophan and tyrosine radicals in lysozyme can be repaired by these antioxidants to varying degrees of efficiency. Although SDS-solubilized alpha-tocopherol efficiently repairs free tryptophan radicals, it is very inefficient in repairing the amino acids in lysozyme. The rigidity and immobility of solubilized alpha-tocopherol can explain this lack of efficiency.