The evaluation of relation between hypertension and oxidative stress

There are many studies in the literature on the relationship between hypertension and oxidative stress, but due to inconsistent results and the complex mechanism of action of oxidative stress, it is still tried to correlate hypertension with oxidative stress parameters. Individuals with systolic and diastolic blood pressures greater than 140/90 mmHg, respectively, are diagnosed with hypertension. As a defense system in our body, radicals are formed in a balanced way and then they are rendered harmless by the antioxidant mechanism. However, with the disruption of this balance, that is, with the excessive production of oxidants, oxidative stress causes various damages and pathologies in the body. In our study, malondialdehyde (MDA), carbonyl group, reduced glutathione (GSH) and sulfhydryl (SH) groups as oxidative stress markers were found in the sera of 46 patients aged 18-80 years who were diagnosed with hypertension and had no diabetes, signs of infection, rheumatological disease, malignancy, chronic kidney failure, previous myocardial infarction, heart failure. The same markers were also studied in 32 control groups without rheumatologic disease, malignancy, chronic renal failure, previous myocardial infarction, heart failure, as well as hypertension. As a result of these studies, although MDA levels were found to be statistically significant between the two groups (p<0.005), GSH levels did not yield statistically significant results (p>0.05). The levels of SH groups were found to be statistically significantly lower in the patient group compared to the control group (p<0.05). Unexpectedly, the levels of carbonyl groups were found to be significantly lower in the patient group compared to the control group (p<0.05). In this study, lipid peroxidation marker MDA levels were higher in patients with hypertension compared to the control group. In addition, the carbonyl group levels we used to measure protein damage did not yield the results we expected between the two groups. The reduced glutathione levels, which represent the antioxidant mechanism, were also not different from the control group in patients with hypertension. The decrease in the levels of SH groups, as a marker of antioxidant capacity, in the patient group is another proof after MDA of the relationship between hypertension and oxidative stress.