A study of oxidative stress, thiol proteins and role of vitamin E supplementation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Background: Lipid peroxide plays an important role in inflammatory lung disease. Increased epithelial permeability produced by cigarette smoke is likely to be mediated through depletion of thiol proteins. Imbalance between oxidants and thiol proteins is also an established fact in these patients. Materials & methods: In the present study 30 healthy non-smokers were served as controls and 20 patients with stable COPD were included. Their base line clinical examination, Malondialdehyde (MDA) as an oxidant, alpha tocopherol and erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) as an antioxidants and thiol proteins levels were measured. All above parameters were repeated after 12 weeks of supplementation with 400 IU of vitamin E daily. Results: We observed that the mean malondialdehyde levels in these patients at base line were high (p<0.001) than Control Plasma alpha-tocopherol, SOD and thiol proteins levels were low (p