A Relative Measurement of Oxidative Stress in NAFLD Through Cyclic Voltammetry Method for Clinical Translation

A potential contributing factor in the development of various metabolic diseases such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) could be oxidative stress and the production of reactive oxygen radicals. A high level of lipid peroxidation, including oxidative stress, can cause irreversible effects. We investigated the consequences of NAFLD on the reducing power of the liver in patients through plasma antioxidant capacity using screen-printed electrodes (SPEs). The study includes a total of 67 patient's population with steatosis (n = 29) and steatohepatitis (n = 38). Anodic current intensity (la), anodic wave area (S), and the biological sample oxidation potentials can be determined via cyclic voltammetry (CV) analysis. The enzyme glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and products of oxidative damage such as malondialdehyde (MDA), advanced glycation-end product (AGE), total status of oxidants (TOS), nitric oxide (NO), and cytokines analysis (qRT-PCR) of key mediators such as PNPLA3 in lipid metabolism, TIMP1 in fibrosis, and proinflammatory cytokines like NF-κB, TNF-α, and IL-6, which are crucial for understanding NAFLD progression were recorded to further validate the CV obtained results along with and morphological changes through scanning electron microscope (SEM). The developed method measured oxidative stress with an error of less than 1.3% in human plasma samples, wherein the steatohepatitis caused a spike modification in the anodic current AC₅₂₀ and AC₉₇₂ (p < 0.01) compared to healthy humans. The presented electroanalytical methodology could be widely used for easy and rapid subjects' disease status detection. In addition to monitoring the response of subjects to treatment and providing nutritional supplements, these results may also be used for screening specific populations.