Decreased total and corrected antioxidant capacity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Oxidative stress and depletion of antioxidants may play a key role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-related intestinal damage. A new automated assay for the determination of blood total antioxidant capacity (TAC), based on the crocin bleaching method, has been used for the measurement of TAC and corrected TAC (cTAC) in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) in comparison to healthy controls (HC). Ninety-four patients with UC, 97 patients with CD, and 72 HC were included in this study. Serum TAC was measured in all patients and controls on an Olympus AU-600 chemistry analyzer using a TAC kit. cTAC was calculated from TAC after subtraction of the interactions due to endogenous uric acid, bilirubin and albumin. Mean serum TAC as well as cTAC levels were significantly lower in both UC and CD patients compared with HC (P < 0.0001). Patients with active UC had no different TAC and cTAC compared to those with inactive disease. Patients with active CD had significantly lower mean TAC compared to those with inactive disease but cTAC was not different between the two phases of disease activity. Patients with proctitis had significantly higher TAC and cTAC compared to patients with left-sided colitis and total colitis. In CD patients no association between disease localization and these markers was found. TAC and cTAC are significantly reduced in IBD patients compared with controls irrespective of disease activity. The decreased antioxidant defenses may be a primary phenomenon severely compromising the mucosa and therefore increase susceptibility to oxidative tissue damage.