Abstract
Objective: Glutathione (GSH) has a central role in the defence against oxidative damage. This study was carried out to investigate any change in erythrocyte GSH levels in a population of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and compare them with levels in normal healthy subjects. Method: GSH levels were determined in erythrocytes of one hundred and seventy six patients with AMI (age: 30-70 years; 131 males and 45 females) admitted to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi. These levels were compared with eryrocyte GSH levels obtained from 95 normal healthy subjects (controls). Results: Mean ± SD erythrocyte GSH levels in AMI patients and controls were found to be 2.34 ± 0.62 μmol/ml of packed cells and 2.08 ± 0.62 μmol/ml of packed cells, respectively. The two values when compared with one way ANOVA were found to be significantly different (p=0.001). Age had little effect on erythrocyte GSH levels in both AMI patients and normal healthy subjects. Conclusion: Increased production of reactive oxygen species is a feature of cardiovascular disease, such as AMI and cells can respond to mild oxidative stress by upregulating antioxidant defence in terms of increased production of GSH.
| Original language | English (UK) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 254-258 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Publication status | Published - May 2004 |
