[Antioxidant status in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis].
OBJECTIVE
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is chronic liver disease that can potentially progress to end stage liver disease. Oxidative stress to the vulnerable fatty liver has been reported as a key mechanism in development of NASH. Several antioxidant pathways have been identified, but reports that involved quantitative analysis of each antioxidant systems are rare, and these reports have shown various results. So, we investigated antioxidant status and the degree of oxidative stress by measuring several antioxidant enzymes, the total antioxidant status (TAS), and the metabolites of superoxide in NASH patients.


METHODS
Nineteen NASH patients who were confirmed by liver biopsy and fifteen controls were involved in this study. The levels of body mass index (BMI), AST, ALT, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase, TAS, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were compared between both groups. The relationship between the histologic severity and the levels of each antioxidants were analyzed in the NASH group.


RESULTS
The activities of SOD and catalase were lower in the NASH group. The concentrations of TAS and H2O2 were higher in NASH group. The level of GPx and MDA showed no significant differences between both groups. There were no significant relationships between the above variables and the pathological severity.


CONCLUSIONS
The disturbed metabolism of superoxide due to the decreased activities of SOD and catalase seem to be important in the pathogenesis of NASH. Further investigations about the nonenzymatic secondary antioxidant mechanism are necessary because the TAS was higher for the NASH group. The lack of difference between both groups for the concentration of MDA indicates that mechanisms other than lipid peroxidation also may be important in the pathogenesis of NASH.
Department of Internal Medicine, Keimyung University College of Medicine, Daegu, Korea. seenae99@dsmc.or.kr
Kyung Sik
KS
Park
Byoung Kuk
BK
Jang
Ki Min
KM
Kwon
Woo Jin
WJ
Chung
Kwang Bum
KB
Cho
Jae Seok
JS
Hwang
Sung Hoon
SH
Ahn
Kyo Cheol
KC
Mun
Young Hwan
YH
Kim
D000328:Adult; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism*; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D018384:Oxidative Stress
D000975:Antioxidants