Determination of oxidative stress levels and some antioxidant enzyme activities in rheumatoid arthritis

It is well known that the oxidative stress and antioxidant status play a crucial role in the Rheumatoid arthritis. To further investigation about the levels of the oxidative stress and the antioxidant parameters, 60 subjects were conducted in this study, 30 patients who are suffering from Rheumatoid arthritis and 30 of them are healthy subjects that they have not any diseases as a control group. The study is carried out in Rheumatology Department of Rizgary Teaching Hospital and CMC private hospital and general hospital Taq Taq in Erbil north of Iraq. Blood samples from the subjects were collected and the sera of both groups were used to determine the malondialdehyde (MDA) level which is the end product of lipid peroxidation and the antioxidant enzyme activities superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), and catalase (CAT). The data show that the mean level of serum (MDA) level of the patients group is significantly higher compared to control group. Whereas the mean level of superoxide dismutase SOD activity of patients group is significantly lower than that of healthy control group in rheumatoid (p<0.05) (Table 3.1) There are significant differences in the mean levels of serum GSH and CAT of patients group compared to the control groups. This study show that the oxidative status affects very well the cellular damage of the tissue in RA patients. Keywords: CAT, MDA, Rheumatoid Arthritis, SOD.