Original article
English
Abdalla Mohammed Jarari, Abdel Moniem Medhat Mohammed Farag , Haider Adnan Al-attar, Rakesh Mohan Pathak
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Arab Medical University Benghazi, Libya
JMJ 2010, Vol.10, No.2:101-105
Abstract
Background: Iron sequestration in transport and storage proteins may contribute to antioxidant defences. On the other hand, oxidants can cause the release of catalytic iron from the storage proteins and this promotes the formation of more reactive free radicals. The catalytic iron has been implicated in ischaemic myocardial damage and in the genesis of apoptosis of the beta cells of Langerhans of the pancreas. Aim of the study: The study investigated the status of body iron and lipid peroxidation and their correlation in acute myocardial infarction in diabetic patients. Materials and Methods: Thirty acute myocardial infarction patients with or without diabetes mellitus were subjected to analysis for ferritin, a marker of body iron status, total iron, total iron binding capacity in serum and lipid peroxidation activity in erythrocytes along with haemoglobin and haematocrit values these parameters were compared with those of thirty age and gender matched healthy controls. Results: Both the diabetic and nondiabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction showed significant increases in ferritin, total iron, and erythrocyte lipid peroxidation activity with a decrease in total iron binding capacity. A statistically positive correlation was observed among ferritin, total iron and lipid peroxidation activity and a significantly negative correlation was frond with total iron binding capacity. Conclusion: Strikingly elevated levels of ferritin and total iron and the concomitant decrease in total iron binding capacity might be contributing to the availability of catalytic iron which is postulated to be capable of generating more reactive oxygen species, causing lipid peroxidation, which ultimately culminates in acute myocardial infarction and pancreatic damage. The markedly increased lipid peroxidation in the present study lends support to these cellular biochemical hypotheses.
Keywords: Acute myocardial infarction, Diabetes mellitus, Free radicals, Apoptosis, Lipid peroxidation, Atherosclerosis
Link/DOI: http://www.jmj.org.ly/images/stories/summer2010/101.pdf