Evaluation of the state of the pro-oxidant/antioxidant system in children with hereditary spherocytosis

Abstract

Objective: to assess the state of the pro-oxidant/antioxidant system in children with hereditary spherocytosis (HS) depending on its severity.Material and methods. The study involved 44 HS patients at the age from 1 to 17 who were divided into 2 groups depending on the disease severity: mild course (n = 24) and moderate or severe course (n = 20). The control group included 23 practically healthy children who were comparable with the main group by gender and age. The state of the pro-oxidant/antioxidant balance of blood plasma was assessed by the method of luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (LDCL) with the determination of the maximum luminescence intensity (Imax, %) and the light sum of chemiluminescence (S, %). The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase was determined in the erythrocytes of the examined children.Results. On average, the parameters of the pro-oxidant/antioxidant status in the HS patients significantly differed from those of the control group (p <0.05), which corresponded to moderately pronounced oxidative stress. The activity of SOD and catalase in the erythrocytes of the patients was higher as compared with that of the control group (p = 0.0001 and p <0.0001, respectively). The comparison of the severity of oxidative stress depending on HS severity has determined that the degree of stress was more pronounced in patients with moderate or severe course of the disease (p <0.05).Conclusion. HS patients develop oxidative stress (decreased activity of the antioxidant system associated with increased accumulation of prooxidant substances), the degree of which is higher in patients with a severe course of the disease. This allows of considering plasma LDCL indicators as an additional marker for the assessment of the severity of the disease and of justifying the necessity to include antioxidants in the HS treatment regimen.