Superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase activities in the whole blood of exfoliation syndrome and exfoliation glaucoma patients

Purpose: Oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of both exfoliation syndrome (XFS) and exfoliative glaucoma (XFG). We aimed to study the whole blood levels of endogenous antioxidative enzymes, superoxide dismutase (SOD, glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) in XFS and XFG patients. Methods: Deep frozen whole blood samples at -71 Celcius collected from 35 XFS patients including 11 XFG patients and 35 age- and gender matched controls, all of them operated on cataract, were analyzed for SOD, GR and GPX activity by using a commercial kit (Ransod, Randox). For statistical analyses, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used. Results: The whole blood enzyme activities in the SOD, GR and GPX in XFS/XFG groups were 119,6+-19,1 U/ml, 498,4+-105,6 U/L and 7281,5+-1341,4 U/L, and in controls, 121,4+-22,5 U/ml, 536,8+-126,2 U/L and 7689,8+-1843,9 U/L, respectively. In the statistical evaluation, the respective P-values were 0,467, 0,169 and 0,263. In the subgroup of XFGs, apart from the XFS/XFG group, there were no statistical differences in the whole blood enzyme activities of SOD (p=0,594), GR (p=0,522) or GPX (p=0,957). Conclusions: The current study showed no significant differences in the whole blood enzyme activities in SOD, GR or GPX in XFS/XFG patients as compared to control group. This may implicate a proper function of these endogenous antioxidative enzymes dispite of increased oxidative stress known to be involved in XFS and XFG.