Hormone replacement therapy: relation to homocysteine and prooxidant-antioxidant status in healthy postmenopausal women

Studies have consistently shown a lower cardiovascular risk in women who received postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT). In this study, the effects of HRT were investigated on plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) and the oxidant-antioxidant status in postmenopausal women. 35 of postmenopausal receiving (2 mg estrodiol valerate + 1 mg cyproterone acetate) HRT group, the remaining 25 received orally placebo (NHRT group). There was no significant change in plasma tHcy levels between HRT and NHRT groups. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and total thiol (t-SH) correlated significantly with tHcy (0.388 and 0.478, respectively) content, and there was a significant negative correlation between E2 level and glutathione transferase (GST) activity (-0.425) in HRT group. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and HDL-C correlated significantly with t-SH level (0.339 and 0.336, respectively) in plasma after HRT. Our results show that HRT is beneficial in the protection against oxidative damage, and prevents atherosclerotic complications.