Elsevier

Transplantation Proceedings

Volume 37, Issue 9, November 2005, Pages 3932-3935
Transplantation Proceedings

Outcome
Time Course of Antioxidant Enzyme Activities in Liver Transplant Recipients

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.transproceed.2005.10.088Get rights and content

Abstract

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a central role in ischemia–reperfusion injury after organ transplantation. They are degraded by endogenous radical scavengers such as antioxidant enzymes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the temporal variations of antioxidant enzyme activities in liver transplant recipients. The study was performed in 13 liver transplant patients (11 men and 2 women). Blood samples were obtained pre- and postsurgical intervention: before transplant (T0), and 1, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours, as well as 5 and 7 days thereafter. We determined total and specific superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and glutathione reductase (GR) activities as well as malondialdehyde (MDA) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL). The results showed increased SOD and mainly GPX activities after liver transplantation, which correlated with MDA levels. Total SOD activity was mainly represented by Mn-SOD (75%) and Cu,Zn-SOD (25%), whereas Fe-SOD was not detected. In conclusion, the enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities reported in this study indicated a control of oxidative stress generated in liver transplantation. In this sense, although MDA levels showed an enormeous increase at 1 hour after transplantation, the lipid peroxidation was compensated for by GPX activity.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

The 13 adult patients (43 to 57 years old) included 11 men and 2 women. Written informed consent was obtained from the patients’ relatives. The study protocol was approved by the local Clinical Research (Ethics) Committee. Blood samples containing EDTA as anticoagulant were obtained pre- and postsurgical intervention before transplant (T0), and 1, 6, and 12 hours, as well as 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 days after liver transplantation. We determined total and specific SOD activity, CAT, GPX, and GR

Results

SOD activity was enhanced at 1 hour after transplantation relative to the value before transplantation (T0). The activity returned to pretransplant values at 1 day after the procedure, increasing again from day 2 (Table 1). The pattern of SOD activity before and after liver transplantation was followed by staining nondenaturing (native) polyacrylamide gels for SOD activity. The activity was mainly represented by Mn-SOD (75%) and Cu,Zn-SOD (25%), whereas Fe-SOD was not detected (Fig 1). CAT

Discussion

The results obtained herein confirmed the presence of an oxidative stress. The enhanced SOD activity represents the response of the organism toward superoxide radicals generated during and after liver transplantation. A consequence of this activity is the generation of hydrogen peroxide, which is decomposed by CAT activity. Lipid peroxidation is the principal damage caused by ROS. MDA, one of the final products in the peroxidation process, serves as an indication of the amount of generated ROS.

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Supported by grants FIS 03/0968 and C03/03 from the Instituto Salud Carlos III (Ministery of Health, Spain).

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