Brief Article
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World J Gastroenterol. Feb 28, 2011; 17(8): 1063-1070
Published online Feb 28, 2011. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v17.i8.1063
Antioxidative status of patients with alcoholic liver disease in southeastern Taiwan
Ya-Ling Chen, Li-Ju Chen, Ming-Jong Bair, Mei-Lan Yao, Hsiang-Chi Peng, Sien-Sing Yang, Suh-Ching Yang
Ya-Ling Chen, Suh-Ching Yang, School of Nutrition and Health Sciences, College of Public Health and Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Hsing Street, Taipei 110, Taiwan, China
Hsiang-Chi Peng, School of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Hsing Street, Taipei 110, Taiwan, China
Li-Ju Chen, Department of Nutrition, Mackay Memorial Hospital (Taitung Branch), Chang-Sha street, Taitung 95054, Taiwan, China
Ming-Jong Bair, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital (Taitung Branch), Chang-Sha street, Taitung 95054, Taiwan China
Mei-Lan Yao, Department of Laboratory, Mackay Memorial Hospital (Taitung Branch), Chang-Sha street, Taitung 95054, Taiwan, China
Sien-Sing Yang, Liver Unit, Cathay General Hospital, 280, Jen-Ai Road, Sec. 4, Taipei 106, Taiwan, China
Author contributions: Chen YL and Chen LJ contributed equally to this work; Chen YL, Chen LJ, Peng HC and Yao ML performed research and analyzed data; Bair MJ and Yang SS performed the diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease; Yang SC designed the research; Yang SS and Yang SC wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Dr. Suh-Ching Yang, School of Nutrition and Health Sciences, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan, China. sokei@tmu.edu.tw
Telephone: +886-2-27361661 Fax: +886-2-27373112
Received: July 23, 2010
Revised: December 1, 2010
Accepted: December 8, 2010
Published online: February 28, 2011
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the antioxidative status of patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD) in southeastern Taiwan.

METHODS: Our study comprised 27 patients with ALD recruited from Taitung Mackay Memorial Hospital, located in southeastern Taiwan. Patients with ALD included 12 non-aborigines (12 men) and 15 aborigines (11 men and 4 women). According to the severity of ALD, patients with ALD included 10 with hepatitis (9 men and 1 woman) and 17 with cirrhosis (14 men and 3 women). Twenty-two age- and gender-matched healthy adults served as the control group in this study. Venous blood (10 mL) of each subject was drawn into EDTA-containing tubes after 8 h overnight fasting.

RESULTS: Compared to the control group, patients with ALD showed significantly lower erythrocytic catalase (11.1 ± 0.7 U/mg Hb vs 8.0 ± 0.7 U/mg Hb, P < 0.05) and superoxide dismutase (9.5 ± 1.6 U/mg Hb vs 3.0 ± 0.2 U/mg Hb, P < 0.05) activities. Furthermore, the erythrocytic reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione ratio was significantly lower in ALD patients than that in the control group (38.1 ± 5.4 vs 15.7 ± 1.9, P < 0.05). The results revealed that patients with ALD experienced more oxidative stress than those in the control group. The non-aboriginal, but not the aboriginal, ALD group had higher erythrocytic glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activity than that in the control group (46.1 ± 7.8 U/g Hb vs 27.9 ± 2.2 U/g Hb, P < 0.05). Hepatitis, but not cirrhosis, ALD patients had higher erythrocytic GPX activity than that in the control group (44.3 ± 8.6 U/g Hb vs 27.9 ± 2.2 U/g Hb, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that both ethnicity and the severity of ALD may cause different erythrocytic antioxidative enzyme activities especially GPX activity.

Keywords: Alcoholic liver disease; Antioxidative status; Aborigines; Hepatitis; Cirrhosis