Total antioxidant status and oxidative stress in recurrent aphthous stomatitis

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis is an idiopathic, chronic, recurrent inflammatory disease of the oral mucosa. It is thought that oxidative stress caused by systemic inflammation plays a basic role in the etiopathogenesis of recurrent aphthous stomatitis. The aim of this study is to review oxidative status and DNA damage in recurrent aphthous stomatitis.

The study included 42 patients with an active recurrent aphthous stomatitis lesion and 39 healthy volunteers with similar demographic characteristics. DNA damage was analyzed using alkaline single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay). Plasma levels of total antioxidant status and total oxidative status were determined by using an automated measurement method. Oxidative stress index was calculated as total oxidative status/total antioxidant status and × 100.

The total oxidative status and oxidative stress index values were significantly higher in the recurrent aphthous stomatitis group compared to the control group, while total antioxidant status values were significantly lower. In the recurrent aphthous stomatitis group, DNA damage was observed to be significantly higher than the control group. In correlation analysis, significant correlation was found between DNA damage and the oxidative stress index and total oxidative status values in the recurrent aphthous stomatitis group.

This is the first report in the literature that demonstrates association of recurrent aphthous stomatitis with increased oxidative status.