The Total Free Radical Trapping Ability of Cord Blood Plasma in Preterm and Term Babies

Low molecular weight plasma antioxidants and lipid peroxidation in maternal and cord blood

“…The concentrations of urate, bilirubin and sulphydryls were higher in cord plasma than in maternal plasma. Maternal and cord urate, bilirubin, albumin and sulphydryl levels were comparable to those reported elsewhere in similar population groups (Lindeman et al, 1989;Clark & Kumar, 1990;Spranger et al, 1998). The time course of the production of TBARS in maternal and cord plasma during incubation with Cu 2 was examined.…”

“…Peroxyl radicals play a key role in the lipid peroxidation process, so the lag phase of lipid peroxidation increases when the concentration of chain-breaking or peroxyl radical-quenching antioxidants increases (Cadenas & Sies, 1998). Previous studies that examined the radical quenching ability of cord plasma from healthy neonates showed that the antioxidant activity of cord plasma was the same or higher than that of adult plasma (Lindeman et al, 1989;Gopinathan et al, 1994). Thus, it is suggested that the resistance of cord plasma to Cu 2 -mediated lipid peroxidation observed in the current study is at least partly due to circulating levels of urate, albumin, bilirubin and sulphydryl groups.…”

“…Experimental data have shown that ascorbate is an antioxidant of major importance (Frei et al, 1989), which protects low density lipoprotein against Cu 2 -mediated peroxidation (Retsky & Frei, 1995). The levels of ascorbate in cord plasma are higher than in adult plasma (Lindeman et al, 1989;Gopinathan et al, 1994). Secondly, plasma oxidizability is positively related to plasma total cholesterol concentrations (Spranger et al, 1998).…”

Investigation of iron’s neurotoxicity during cerebral maturation in the neonatal rat model of haemolysis

“…Studies of babies with Rh incompatibility have revealed increased byproducts of ferritin and lipid peroxidation. These re sults support the hypothesis that a high Fe load generates free oxygen radicals and causes cerebral damage [1,11,17]. Fe transportation is strictly regulated by the BBB and other barriers with unclear mechanisms [3].…”

Is there an unidentified defence mechanism against infection in human plasma?

“…However, Lindeman et al [22] have shown that by recalculating the proportion of bilirubin from TRAPcalc (using a stoichiometric factor of 2.0) its percentage contribution is less than 4%. Also, the plasma concentration of t-carotene is too low to make a significant contribution to TRAPcalc [22]. Our preliminary data show that flavonoids have a minor contribution (less than 1%) to TRAP (Mets/i-Ketel/i et al unpublished data) and they cannot be responsible for the large proportion of UNID.…”