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Hydride as a Biological Antioxidant
Hydrogen in its normal state holds one electron however it can hold an additional electron. When it has two electrons instead of one, it is called the hydride ion (H~). Hydrogen is the smallest element (has one proton and one electron and tends to exist as H 2 gas). Hydrogen is also abundant in biological organic molecules. It further plays an important biological role and is exchanged in numerous biochemical reactions. It is the primary donor of an electron, a pair of electrons or a proton to biochemical reactions in the body of humans and animals {Leninger et al, 1993). Biochemists have established that most electron exchange in biochemical pathways within cells occurs with a form of hydrogen. It often reacts or is carried by enzymes such as the dehydrogenase enzymes that remove or add hydrogen, or split gaseous hydrogen (H 2) (Happe et al, 1997). Hydrogen in the form of H' is carried by cofactors such as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) (Leninger et al, 1993). NADH specifically provides the energy required in the cell to generate energy in che form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) in the mitochondria electron transport chain. ATP stores energy in the bonds of the molecule and will participate in numerous biochemical pathways throughout the cell that depend on it exclusively.
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