Antioxidant status of patients with acute myocardial infarction

Objectives: It has been suggested that dietary selenium (Se) deficiency is implicated in the etiology of cardiovascular disease. In this study, we examined the antioxidant status of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) determining the blood and plasma Se concentrations, plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) and blood and plasma Se-dependent glutathione peroxidase (SeGSH-Px) activities. Patients: Venous blood samples were taken from 70 randomly selected AMI patients (50 men, 20 women) aged 36 to 86 years at the Coronary Care Unit of the Medical Clinical Center in Belgrade 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 days after admission to the Unit and 20 healthy volunteers (men 12, women 8) aged 39 to 79 years. Methods: Blood and plasma Se was determined by AAS; SeGSH-Px activity spectrophotometrically at 37 °C, and MDA using colorimetric methods with thiobarbituric acid. Results: In comparison to the control group, AMI patients had significantly lower blood and plasma Se levels and SeGSH-Px activities and significantly higher plasma MDA level. AMI patients who underwent thrombolytic therapy had significantly higher levels of plasma MDA in comparison to those without the therapy. Decreased blood and plasma Se levels and SeGSH-Px activities and increased levels of plasma MDA indicate low antioxidant status of the patients and therefore, led to decreased ability of their organisms to abolish free radicals. Conclusions: These results suggest that lipid peroxides might play an important role in the genesis of ischemic heart disease. The higher level of plasma MDA in AMI patients who underwent thrombolytic therapy indicate that peroxides might be included in the occurrence of reperfusion syndrome