Assessment of lipid peroxidation and activities of erythrocyte cytoprotective enzymes in women with iron deficiency anemia

Abstract

• BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the lipid peroxidation levels and activities of erythrocytecytoprotective enzymes can be affected by iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in menstruating women.
• METHODS: In this case-control study, 43 women with IDA, 43 women with iron deficiency (ID) and 43 healthy controls were included. Lipid peroxidation levels were assessed by measuring the concentrations of plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) (as byproduct of lipid peroxidation). We also evaluated the activities of erythrocyte cytoprotective enzymes by measuring activities of copper zinc-superoxide dismutase (CuZn-SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and catalase (CAT) in selected groups. Furthermore, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of  plasma was assessed for each subject.Comparisons between continuous variables across groups were performed by the calculation of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).
• RESULTS: Mean plasma concentration of MDA was significantly higher in IDA group than that in ID group (3.49 ± 0.84 vs. 2.76 ± 0.59, ?mol/L, respectively, p < 0.01) and healthy group women (3.49 ± 0.84 vs. 2.94 ± 0.71 ?mol/L, respectively, p < 0.01). No significant difference was observed between ID and healthy groups in plasma MDA concentration (2.76 ± 0.59 vs. 2.94 ± 0.71, respectively). The mean erythrocyte CuZn-SOD activity in IDA group was significantly lower than that in healthy group women (674 ± 89 vs. 796 ± 82, respectively, p < 0.01). Furthermore, erythrocyte CAT activity was significantly lower in IDA group compared to both ID (162 ± 52 vs. 193 ± 72, respectively, p < 0.01) and healthy women groups (162 ± 52 vs. 234 ± 68, respectively, p < 0.001). No significant difference was observed between study groups in erythrocyte GPX activity. In addition, plasma TAC levels were significantly lower in IDA and ID groups compared to healthy women group (1.97 ± 0.42 and 2.16 ± 0.64 vs. 3.76 ± 0.86, respectively, p < 0.01).
• CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed that activities of erythrocyte cytoprotective enzymes decrease and lipid peroxidation increases in women with IDA. The consequence of the low activity of the cytoprotective enzymes in human is progressive tissue damage, which may eventually lead to atherosclerosis and other degenerative diseases.
• KEYWORDS: Lipid peroxidation, iron deficiency anemia, cytoprotective enzymes, women.