title: Serum heme oxygenase-1 levels in patients with primary dysmenorrhea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Primary dysmenorrhea effects the life-quality of women negatively. The aim of this study was to evaluate heme oxygenase-1 (HO1) activity together with malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) levels in patients with primary dysmenorrhea.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 28 nulliparous women with the diagnosis of primary dysmenorrhea and 26 healthy controls were included in this study. On the first day of menstruation, all patients underwent ultrasound examination to exclude pelvic pathology and the visual analogue scale was applied to patients. Patient's visual analogue scale (VAS) scores, age, body mass index (BMI), menstrual cycle length (day), length of bleeding (day) were recorded. In the same day, fasting blood samples were taken from each patient for biochemical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum MDA, NO and HO1 levels were found to be higher in women with primary dysmenorrhea compared to healthy controls (p = 0.012, p = 0.009, p < 0.001, respectively). There were no correlation among serum levels of HO1, NO and MDA, age, BMI, cycle length, pain score and menses duration in both groups. In Pearson's correlation analysis, positive correlation was found between HO1 levels with the NO levels (r = 0.316, p < 0.05) and VAS scores (r = 0.520, p < 0.01). Also, positive correlation was found between MDA levels and VAS scores (r = 0.327, p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum HO1, NO and MDA levels increase in patients with primary dysmenorrhea. Antioxidant support might be helpful to reduce pain severity in primary dysmenorrhea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obsterics and Gynecology, Nenehatun Hospital, Dr Refik Saydam Street, Palandöken, 25070, Erzurum, Turkey. draysenuraksoy@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ayse Nur
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Aksoy
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Esra
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Laloglu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Alev Lazoglu
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Ozkaya
authors.affiliation: Department of Obsterics and Gynecology, Nenehatun Hospital, Dr Refik Saydam Street, Palandöken, 25070, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Emsal Pınar Topdagi
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004412:Dysmenorrhea / Q000201:enzymology*; D005260:Female; D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1 / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000097:blood; D008598:Menstruation / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000097:blood; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D064232:Visual Analog Scale
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1
keywords: Heme oxygenase-1; Malondialdehyde; Nitric oxide; Primary dysmenorrhea; Serum levels