Oxidant-induced cell death in respiratory epithelial cells is due to DNA damage and loss of ATP.

Oxidative stress is considered to be an important pathogenic event in ischemia-reperfusion injury, leading to apoptosis or necrosis. We show acute cytotoxicity upon exposure to hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) in BEAS-2B cells and A549 cells. Single-cell gel electrophoresis showed formation of large comet tails from DNA upon oxidant exposure suggestive of DNA damage.