Antioxidant status in relation to free radical production during stable and unstable anginal syndromes

Lipid peroxidation and the antioxidant status were studied in male patients having stable angina (SA) and unstable angina (UA) pectoris and the results were compared with that of controls. Lipid peroxides (LPx) and conjugated dienes (CD) were found to be elevated in patients with both SA (LPx: 3.96 +/- 1.07, P less than 0.001; CD: 357.09 +/- 66.23, P less than 0.01) and UA (LPx: 4.66 +/- 1.33, CD: 373.33 +/- 49.82, P less than 0.001) than in controls (LPx: 3.22 +/- 0.86, CD: 335.15 +/- 60.27). In SA, the erythrocytes expressed a diminished activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) (SA: 435.59 +/- 76.02, control: 651.69 +/- 145.90, P less than 0.001) and normal activities of catalase and glutathione peroxidase, whereas in UA it showed enhanced activities of both SOD (UA: 735.72 +/- 145.67, P less than 0.01) and catalase (UA: 21.94 +/- 6.26, control: 18.69 +/- 6.37, P less than 0.01). A significant increase was also noticed in the levels of ceruloplasmin and vitamin E during both types of angina, but not alteration was observed in the levels of transferrin. Further, the patients with diabetes showed maximum levels of lipid peroxides compared to smokers and hypertensives. The level of lipid peroxides was also observed to increase with the severity of disease. This study indicates that free radicals are involved in the pathogenesis and progression of atherosclerotic heart disease.