Oxidative stress in children with acute glomerulonephritis

Background. Oxidative stress has not been adequately investigated in acute glomerulonephritis (AGN); therefore, we aimed to evaluate the oxidative stress (OS) status in children with AGN both at acute and remission stages. Patients and methods. Seventeen children (mean +/- SEM, age 9.0 +/- 0.5 years) with AGN and 17 healthy controls were included. In addition to routine laboratory investigations, two blood samples were obtained from patients, at admission and after 6-10 weeks, to measure erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) level. Results. Significantly elevated MDA levels (5.11 +/- 0.28 vs. 3.15 +/- 0.25 nmol/mL; p < 0.001) were found in acute stage of AGN compared with the controls; however there was no significant difference in SOD activities (3732 +/- 193 vs. 4035 +/- 142 U/gHb; p > 0.05) between acute stage-AGN and control subjects. Significantly elevated SOD activities (3985 +/- 195 U/gHb, p = 0.034) and decreased MDA levels (4.01 +/- 0.38 nmol/mL, p = 0.001) were found at remission stage when compared with the acute stage. MDA levels and SOD activities of remission phase were similar to those of controls (p > 0.05). A significantly positive correlation was found between MDA levels and SOD activities in remission period (r = 0.654, p 0.004). Patients with and without impaired renal functions had similar MDA levels and SOD activities (p >0.05). No significant correlation was found between glomerular filtration rates (GFR) and MDA levels (p > 0.05) and between GFR and SOD (p > 0.05) activities in acute stage-AGN. Conclusions. Oxidative stress may play important role in the pathogenesis of AGN and not be correlated with renal functions. Further research is needed to determine magnitude of OS and indications for antioxidants in other glomerulopathies.