The role of the thiol / disulfide homeostasis in ulcerative colitis

Introduction: Ulcerative colitis is one of the inflammatory bowel diseases that have not been clearly elucidated and many theories have been suggested. Oxidative stress is the prominent of these theories. Besides, there are oxidative stress markers defined for ulcerative colitis, its routine use is limited. In our study, it has been planned to investigate the effect and role of thiol disulfide homeostasis parameters on the disease activation, of which role has been investigated in many diseases. Materials and Methods: 40 acute-term patients diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, 41 patients with remission period who applied to Gastroenterology Clinic in Recep Tayyip Erdogan Education and Research Hospital and 50 control groups who applied to the General Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic were included in the study. Hemogram, biochemistry and thiol-disulfide parameters of the blood samples of the patients included in the study were studied. Results: The demographic characteristics of the patients included in the study, such as age and gender, were similar. Native thiol, total thiol and disulfide levels of acute patients are 270.4 ± 59.2 µmol / L, 295.8 ± 62.6 µmol / L, 12.7 ± 6.5 µmol / L; patients in remission period 295.2 ± 51.0 µmol / L, 323.8 ± 53.1 µmol / L, 14.3 ± 7.0 µmol / L; 348.7 ± 37.6 µmol / L, 379.8 ± 39.8 µmol / L, 15.6 ± 6.5 µmol / L were detected in the control group patients and statistically significant differences were observed between native thiol and total thiol values ( p <0.001). There was no significant difference between disulfide values (p = 0.131). Conclusion: As a result of the study, it has been observed that total and native thiol levels, which are among the oxidative stress markers, decreased significantly with disease activation. This situation showed that oxidative balance increased in favor of oxidation. When the results are evaluated, it is thought that oxidative stress is involved in the etiopathogenesis of the disease and that these values may lead to the severity of the disease. Keywords: Ulcerative colitis, thiol, disulfide, oxidative stres