Oxidants and antioxidants in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis: implications for the oxidized low density lipoprotein hypothesis.

The oxidation hypothesis proposes that low density lipoprotein must be oxidatively modified to trigger the pathological events of atherosclerosis. In this article, we evaluate recent studies addressing the pathways that promote low density lipoprotein oxidation in vivo and the impact of antioxidants on atherogenesis in animals, paying particular attention to the clinical implications of these studies for the oxidation hypothesis.