Determination of levels of oxidative stress and nitrosative stress in patients with epilepsy

Background: Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms in epilepsy are still unknown. Oxidative stress is believed to be one of the factors involved in the pathogenesis of epileptogenesis. In various pathophysiological conditions, reactive nitrogen species (RNS) such as nitrogen and peroxynitrite are produced and these RNSs can bind to free nucleosides and nucleotides or to nucleosides and nucleotides existing in the DNA/RNA structure. 8-Nitroguanine (8-NG) is a typical DNA nucleobase product of nitrosative damage generated by RNS. It has been proposed that F2-isoprostanes, in particular 8-iso-Prostaglandin F2a (8-isoPGF2a), are specific, reliable and non-invasive biomarkers of lipid peroxidation in vivo. In the present study, we compared the levels of lipid oxidative stress biomarker 8-isoPGF2a and nitrosative stress DNA biomarker 8-NG in patients with epilepsy undergoing antiepileptic drug (AEDs) treatment and with those in healthy participants. Methods: The present study comprised 90 patients aged between 17 and 53 who were admitted to the Neurology Clinic of Cumhuriyet University and diagnosed with epilepsy. The patients were assigned into the intervention (n = 45) and control (n = 45) groups. Of the participants in the intervention group, 37.7% (n = 17) were treated with levetiracetam (LEV), 33.3% (n = 15) with valproic acid (VA) and 29% (n = 13) with carbamazepine. Serum 8-iso-PGF2a and 8-NG levels of the participants in the intervention and control groups were determined by ELISA. Results: There was no significant difference between the medication (LEV, VA, Carbamazepine) used by the participants and their 8-iso-PGF2a and 8-NG levels (p> 0.05). However, 8-iso-PGF2a and 8-NG were significantly higher in the participants in the intervention than in the participants in the control group (p< 0.001). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that there was an increase in oxidative and nitrosative stres markers in patients with epilepsy. There was no significant difference between the 8-iso-PGF2a and 8-NG levels of the participants taking three different AEDs.