Lipid peroxidation/antioxidant activity in patients with alopecia areata

Aetiopathogenesis of alopecia areata (AA) is not fully understood and many factors have been assumed. Oxidant/antioxidant disequilibrium has been proposed with controversies between results.

The aim of this study was to determine lipid peroxidation/antioxidant activity in patients with AA and to determine its clinical significance.

Fifty non-obese patients with AA and 50 age-, gender- and body mass index-matched controls (25 patients with severe grade acne vulgaris representative of an oxidative stress condition and 25 healthy volunteers), were included. Levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), indicator of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), were spectrophotometrically measured in blood from all subjects and in scalp tissues from 10 patients with AA.

No significant differences in MDA levels and SOD activity existed between patients with AA and those with acne. However, significantly higher MDA levels and lower SOD activity were found in patients with AA compared with healthy controls. Within patients with AA, lipid peroxidation/antioxidant parameters showed significant differences with disease duration, pattern and extent of lesions. Significant positive correlations also existed between tissue and blood SOD activity and between tissue and blood MDA levels of the 10 studied patients with AA.

Increased lipid peroxidation and defective SOD activity exist in patients with AA. Addition of drugs with antioxidative effects seems to be valuable in treatment.