[Role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of esophageal mucosal injury in children with reflux esophagitis].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of esophageal mucosa injury in children with reflux esophagitis (RE).


METHODS
Esophageal mucosal samples from 36 children with RE (7 months to 16 years of age) were obtained by gastroscopy. The parameters of oxidative stress, including the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH) and nitric oxide (NO) and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity in the esophageal mucosa as well as the protein content of the esophageal mucosa, were measured. Twenty children (3 to 16 years of age) without esophageal mucosal injury by gastroscopy served as controls.


RESULTS
There was no significant difference in the protein content of the esophageal mucosa between the RE and the control groups. The content of MDA in the RE group (15.36+/- 16.67 nmol/mg) was significantly higher than that in the control group (7.51+/- 6.17 nmol/mg) (P<0.01). The activity of T-SOD in the RE group (30.43+/- 35.09 U/mg) was statistically lower than that in the control group (56.34+/- 51.73 U/mg) (P<0.05). No significant differences were observed in GSH and NO contents between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The MDA content increases and the SOD content decreases in the esophageal mucosa in children with RE. This suggests that oxidative stress seems to be an important mediator in generation of esophageal mucosal injury.
Liu
Feng
F
Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, China. mizu@zju.edu.cn
Jiang
Mi-Zu
MZ
Shu
Xiao-Li
XL
Zhang
Xu-Ping
XP
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004942:Esophagitis, Peptic / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D004947:Esophagus / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000032:analysis; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000096:biosynthesis; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism
D009569:Nitric Oxide; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D005978:Glutathione