Assessment of oxidative/nitrosative stress and antioxidant capacity in children with epilepsy

Background: The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms in epilepsy, one of the most common neurological diseases, are still unknown. Oxidative/nitrosative stress is considered a possible mechanism involved in epileptogenesis. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) is involved in the pathogenesis of signal regulation, cellular damage and central nervous system conditions in living organisms. In this study, we aimed to compare peoxynitrite (ONOO^-), a marker of nitrosative stress, total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant status (TAS), oxidative stress index (OSI) and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), DNA damage marker, levels in epileptic patients receiving monotherapy and polytherapy with the healthy control group.Methods: The study included 120 patients with diagnosis of epilepsy and 40 healthy volunteers as controls. The TOS, TAS, OSI, ONOO^- and 8-OHdG were studied in all groups.Results: The study group included 30 girls (50%) and 30 boys (50%) receiving monotherapy and 31 girls (51.7%) and boys 49.3%) receiving polytherapy while control group included 19 girls (47.5%) and 21 boys (52.5%). The TOS and OSI values were found to be significantly higher in polytherapy group when compared to monotherapy and control groups). The ONOO^- values were found to be significantly lower in polytherapy group when compared to monotherapy and control groups. In addition, ONOO^- values were found to be higher in monotherapy group than controls. There was no significant difference in 8-OHdG values between the groups.Conclusions: Significant increases were observed in TOS and OSI parameters in polytherapy group when compared to monotherapy and control groups, suggesting that antiepileptic treatment enhances oxidative stress. Lack of significant difference in 8-OHdG suggested that the treatment is effective in patients and that no DNA damage occurred yet.