The thiol-disulfide balance in smokers and non-smokers

Aim: The impairment of thiol/disulfide balance plays a critical role in the development and/or progression of many diseases. This study aims to investigate the effects of smoking on dynamic thiol-disulfide balance as a marker of oxidative stress in healthy individuals. Material and Method: The study included 30 smoking and 30 non-smoking healthy individuals. The age, gender, body mass index (BM) and smoking habits of all of the participants were recorded, and thlol-disulfide balance tests, including total thiol (TT), native thiol (NT) and disulfide (DS), were determined using a novel colorimetric method. Results: The TT and NT levels of the smokers were significantly lower than those of the non-smokers, whereas there were no significant differences in the DS levels and DS/NT, DS/TT and NT/TT ratios of the two groups. In the smoking group. 8MI was negatively correlated with NT and TT levels and NT/TT ratio and positively with DS/NT and DS/TT ratios. Age was negatively correlated with NT and TT levels in the smokers. Discussion: Our findings demonstrated that NT and TT levels were reduced in smokers. We believe that supplementation of thiol-containing compounds may diminish the harmful effects of smoking by preventing or alleviating smoking-induced oxidative stress.