Detecting Oxidative Stress Biomarkers in Neurodegenerative Disease Models and Patients

Oxidative stress is prominent in many neurodegenerative diseases. Along with mitochondrial dysfunction and pathological protein aggregation, increased levels of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, together with impaired antioxidant defense mechanisms, are frequently observed in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The presence of oxidative stress markers in patients’ plasma and cerebrospinal fluid may aid early disease diagnoses, as well as provide clues regarding the efficacy of experimental disease-modifying therapies in clinical trials. In preclinical animal models, the detection and localization of oxidatively damaged lipids, proteins and nucleic acids helps to identify most vulnerable neuronal populations and brain areas, and elucidate the molecular pathways and the timeline of pathology progression. Here, we describe the protocol for the detection of oxidative stress markers using immunohistochemistry on formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections, applicable to the analysis of postmortem samples and tissues from animal models. In addition, we provide a simple method for the detection of malondialdehyde in tissue lysates and body fluids, which is useful for screening and the identification of tissues and structures in the nervous system which are most affected by oxidative stress.