Oxidative DNA Damage Is Increased in Living Kidney Donors

Background. Long-term consequences of donor nephrectomy might be reduced kidney function, increased risk for cardiovascular disease, and impaired quality of life. The purpose of the current cross-sectional study was to evaluate the relationship between clinical, laboratory, and donation-specific outcomes of living kidney donors and systemic oxidative DNA damage. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional study and assessed retrospectively pre- and postdonation data from 60 donors who donated between 2010 and 2015. Plasma malondialdehyde levels and 8-hydroxy-20-deoxyguanosine/deoxyguanosine ratio (8-OHdG/dG ratio) were determined as oxidative stress markers. Catalase, carbonic anhydrase, and paraoxonase (PON) activities were measured as antioxidants. Results. Approximately 3 years after donation, the hypertensive donor ratio was 12%, and 11% of the donors had glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m(2). Mean serum urea (P =.001) and serum creatinine levels (P =.001) were increased; creatinine clearance level (126.2 +/- 35.5 vs 94.6 +/- 26.8, P =.001) was decreased in the postdonation period. There was a significant positive correlation between predonation serum urea and 8-0HdG/dG ratio (r = 0.338, P =.016) and predonation serum creatinine and 8-0HdG/dG ratio (r = 0.442, P =.001), while there was a significant negative correlation between serum creatinine and PON activity (r = -0.545, P <.001). Conclusion. Our data have demonstrated that kidney donors exhibit increased oxidative DNA damage and decreased antioxidant activity. We propose that predonation serum creatinine is positively correlated with 8-0HdG/dG ratio and negatively correlated with antioxidant PON activity. This is the first study to demonstrate that plasma oxidative DNA damage increases in healthy kidney donors.