Oxidative stress and enzymatic antioxidant status in patients with hypothyroidism before and after treatment

The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between the serum levels of oxidant-antioxidant system (malondialdehyde (MDA) level, Paraoxonase (PON1) activity, nitric oxide (NO) level and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity) and thyroid hormone status in hypothyroidism pre and posttreatment. The study group comprised 33 patients with primary hypothyroidism. 18 of these patients were reevaluated after euthyroid state i.e. at least 6 months of thyroxine replacement. The patients were compared with 26 normal healthy controls. Serum MDA level, PON1 activity, NO level and SOD activity were measured according to an enzymatic spectrophotometric method. MDA levels were found higher in patients with hypothyroidism before the treatment than the controls. MDA levels were also found to be decreased after the treatment in patients with hypothyroidism. However MDA were found still higher than the controls after the treatment. PON1 activity was found to be lower in patients pretreatment when compared to posttreatment hypothyroidism and controls. Posttreatment of hypothyroidism mean PON1 activity significantly increased compared to pretreatment level but it was still significantly lower than control level. NO level was higher in pretreatment hypothyroidism when compared to controls. SOD activity was not found different in patients before treatment when compared to controls. SOD activity was significantly higher in after treatment when compared to both pretreatment and control levels. In conclusion, increased ROS levels in hypothyroidism may result in a pro-oxidation environment, which in turn could result in decreased antioxidant PON1 activity, increased MDA and NO levels. As a result, lipid peroxidation may have a role in the pathogenesis of the atherosclerosis in hypothyroidism.