Chemiluminescence assay of the antioxidant state in patients with atherosclerosis

We evaluated antioxidant state of 62 patients with coronary heart disease and 47 patients with obliterating atherosclerosis of lower extremities by peroxide-depend chemiluminescence and inhibition of azo-initiated chemiluminescence and hydrogen peroxide-hemoglobin-luminol chemiluminescence system. The flash amplitude of peroxide-dependent chemiluminescence in the plasma from patients was 32% below the control. Antioxidant activity of the plasma from patients was higher than in healthy individuals by 33 and 27% depending on the type of free radical-generating systems. The increase in antioxidant activity was most pronounced in patients with combined pathology: coronary heart disease complicated by obliterating atherosclerosis. These results explain the decrease in peroxide-dependent chemiluminescence of the plasma and whole blood in patients with atherosclerosis compared to that in healthy individuals.