FREE-RADICAL LIPID-PEROXIDATION IN SCLERODERMA

Malonic dialdehyde (MDA) levels were measured by spectrophotometry according to Yu. A. Vladimirov and A. I. Archikov in 83 patients with various scleroderma forms and found elevated as against the norm (4.58-0.21 and 3.2-0.20 mmol/ml). Antioxidant activity (AOA) measurements in this patient population have shown its reduction vs. the reference values (3.6-1.8 % vs. the reference value of 43.6-1.88 %). In progressive scleroderma chemiluminescence coefficients (ClC) were elevated, whereas in a stable course of the condition these values were almost twofold lower than in the progressive condition (5.3-0.73). ClC values directly depended on the disease duration: in a disease standing of up to a year ClC value surpassed the normal value more than twofold (14.5-3.6), if the disease lasted longer than a year, these coefficients were virtually the same as in health (6.4-0.75). These findings reflect a varying degree of free radical processes activation, related to specific features of the disease course and length, this confirming the pathogenetic significance of these processes.