title: Detection of melatonin and homocysteine simultaneously in ulcerative colitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oxidative stress could be a major contributing factor to the tissue injury that characterize inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Homocysteine (HCY) could cause oxidative damage to the colon tissue in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, melatonin (MLT) supplementation could reduce oxidative damage that caused by HCY in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we aimed to determine the levels of plasma HCY and MLT simultaneously in UC patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Collected the clinical data of 112 UC patients and 110 healthy controls (HC). The levels of plasma HCY and MLT were detected by HPLC-FD method. The levels of plasma folate, vitamin B(12) (VitB(12)) were detected by ELISA method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The levels of plasma HCY in UC patients were significantly higher than that in HC (11.27±7.26 μmol/L vs. 8.19±4.81 μmol/L, P=0.000). The levels of plasma MLT in UC patients were significantly lower than that in HC (49.06±31.40 pg/ml vs. 64.28±41.16 pg/ml, P=0.008). The levels of plasma folate and VitB(12) in UC patients were lower than that in HC (7.64±1.95 nmol/L vs. 9.14±1.23 nmol/L, 108.64±32.22 pmol/L vs. 112.64±33.33 pmol/L, P<0.05). The levels of plasma HCY and MLT in UC patients were not correlated with either the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) or the disease activity, localization and duration of UC (P>0.05). The change of increasing levels of plasma MLT but decreasing levels of plasma HCY was shown in UC patients, however, the association between the levels of plasma MLT and HCY were not statistically significant (P>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The levels of plasma HCY were increased whereas the levels of plasma MLT were decreased in UC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University, The Key Laboratory of Digestive of Disease of Anhui Province, Hefei, China
authors.forename: Moli
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Qiao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.forename: Jianming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Chunxia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Haiming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Xiaochang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D006710:Homocysteine; D008550:Melatonin