Fulvio Ursini MD, born 1951, serves as professor of biochemistry at the School of Medicine, of Padova and former Director of the Department of Biological Chemistry and Post Graduate School on Human Nutrition. The leitmotif of its studies had been the mechanisms of antioxidant effect. He studied the chemistry of the interaction between enzymatic systems-reducing hydroperoxides and chain breaking antioxidants. This interplay contributed to bridging the long lasting gaps between chemistry, biochemistry and cell biology of free radical oxidations in biology. He discovered the selenoperoxidase GPx4 and clarified the role of selenium catalysis in male fertility and in a new form of non-accidental cell death. In the frame of studies on redox reactions he described the post-prandial oxidative stress and its link to the protective role of foods containing nucleophiles, such as wine. The pathophysiological outcome of these studies led to the description of an modification of LDL, where a misfolding of a specific loop of ApoB, leads to amyloid-like aggregates compatible with the atherogenetic effect. He first proposed the adaptive mechanism of para-hormesis to explain the paradoxical effect of antioxidant activating the nucleophilic tone.

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Citazioni 16,119; h-index 68

Padova 26th June 2018

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