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C. Hoelzl1, J. Bichler1, F. Ferk1, T. Simic2, A. Nersesyan1, L. Elbling1, V. Ehrlich1, A. Chakraborty1, S. Knasmüller1* METHODS FOR THE DETECTION OF ANTIOXIDANTS WHICH PREVENT AGE RELATED DISEASES: A CRITICAL REVIEW WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON HUMAN INTERVENTION STUDIES1Institut of Cancer Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria2Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro ? It is well documented that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in the aetiology of age related diseases. Over the last decades, strong efforts have been made to identify antioxidants in human foods and numerous promising compounds have been detected which are used for the production of supplements and functional foods. The present paper describes the advantages and limitations of methods which are currently used for the identification of antioxidants. Numerous in vitro methods are available which are easy to perform and largely used in screening trials. However, the results of such tests are only partly relevant for humans as certain active compounds (e.g. those with large molecular configuration) are only poorly absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and/or may undergo metabolic degradation. Therefore experimental models are required which provide information if protective effects take place in humans under realistic conditions. Over the last years, several methods have been developed which are increasingly used in human intervention trials. The most widely used techniques are chemical determinations of oxidised guanosine in peripheral blood cells or urine and single cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assays with lymphocytes which are based on the measurement of DNA migration in an electric field. By using of DNA-restriction enzymes (formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase and endonuclease III) it is possible to monitor the endogenous formation of oxidised purines and pyrimidines; recently also protocols have been developed which enable