Serum and ascitic fluid superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondyaldehid (MDA) levels in patients with cirrhosis

Abstract

Serum and ascitic fl uid superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were measured in 43 patients with cirrhosis and in a 10 healthy control group. Compensated cirrhotic patients had no clinically detectable ascites, but decompensated patients had massive ascites. Cirrhotic patients were divided into three groups: patients with compensated cirrhosis (n = 16), patients with decompensated cirrhosis with Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) (n = 14), and patients with decompensated cirrhosis without SBP (n = 13). All cirrhotic patients in the experimental group had signifi cantly higher serum SOD (p 0.001) and MDA levels (p 0.01) than those in the control group. There were no signifi cant differences with respect to serum SOD and MDA levels among the three different groups of patients. There was no remarkable difference in ascitic fl uid SOD and MDA levels between decompensated cirrhotic patients with and without SBP (p 0.05). These results suggest that the increase in serum SOD and MDA levels are not related to the presence of SBP and the status of liver cirrhosis. To sum up, clarifying the impact of increased serum SOD and MDA levels in cirrhotic patients needs further investigation.