[Free radicals in industrial medicine: their mechanisms of toxicity and biological relevance].

Several pathological processes have been attributed to or associated with free radical mechanisms, including inflammation, cardiac reperfusion injury, aging, and cancer. Moreover, free radicals (FR) produced as reactive intermediates or species during the metabolic activation of an increasing number of industrial chemicals or other toxic agents have been regarded as being primarily responsible for the toxicity of these compounds. Some of the mechanisms involved in FR-induced tissue damage are reviewed, using the following specific examples from occupational medicine: the acute hepatotoxicity of carbon tetrachloride, the delayed lung toxicity of paraquat, the asbestos-induced lung disease, and the carcinogenicity of aromatic amines.