Tissue oxidant, antioxidant and TNF-alpha levels in ureteropelvic junction obstructions

In this study, it was aimed to determine the role of some oxidant, antioxidant agents and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in the pathophysiology of ureteropelvic junction obstructions because of their effect on cell life, development and death. A total of 56 patients who applied to the Urology Clinic of Fırat University Hospital between 2015-2018 were included in the study. Patients were divided into two groups as 'patient' and 'control' groups. In the 'patients' group; 30 patients with ureteropelvic junction obstruction were evaluated. In the 'control' group; 26 patients which were diagnosed with kidney tumor or non-functional kidney were evaluated. TNF-alpha, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were measured in the tissue samples taken from the uretero pelvic junction segments of the study groups. TNF-alpha levels were determined by using Enzyme-Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA) method, malondialdehyde level, superoxide dismutase and catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities were measured spectrophotometrically by using the appropriate manual methods. MDA and TNF-alpha levels were detected as significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group. SOD, CAT and GPx enzyme levels were found as lower in the patient group than in the control group (p <0,05). In the Pearson correlation graph TNF-alpha revealed a negative correlation with SOD, CAT and GPx and a positive correlation with MDA. Also a negative correlation was detected between SOD and MDA. It was found that these markers did not correlate significantly with renal scintigraphy results. In our study, it was concluded that oxidative stress and antioxidant mechanisms may have a role in the pathophysiology of ureteropelvic junction obstructions. Regarding this, antioxidants were thought to be useful in the prevention and treatment of ureteropelvic junction stenosis. However, it is seen that more comprehensive and more studies are needed to obtain more accurate and healthy results. Keywords: Oxidant, antioxidant, TNF-alpha, ureteropelvic junction, MDA