Effects of age and gender on the redox homeostasis of morbidly obese people

Obesity is a chronic disease of complex etiology. Recent evidence suggests that obesity is caused by inflammation of adipose tissue leading to metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease and cancer. This is the first study to evaluated the effects of age and gender on redox homeostasis, glutathione metabolism, and oxidative damage to plasma/serum lipids and proteins in morbidly obese patients. The study included 120 (60 men and 60 women) morbidly obese patients with class 3 obesity (BMI > 40 kg/m2), classified into three groups depending on age: 20-39 years (n = 20), 40-59 years (n = 20) and 60 years or older (n = 20). The number of patients was calculated a priori based on our previous experiment. We observed a reduction in serum activity of antioxidant enzymes (down arrow SOD) and plasma concentration of non-enzymatic antioxidants (down arrow GSH) in obese patients compared to the lean controls, which further decreased with age. Redox status (up arrow TAC, up arrow TOS and down arrow OSI) in morbidly obese men and women was shifted towards oxidation. Moreover, lipid (up arrow MDA and up arrow LOOH) and protein (up arrow AOPP, up arrow AGE and up arrow Amadori products) damage products of oxidation and nitrosylation/nitration (up arrow total NO, up arrow S-nitrosothiols, up arrow peroxynitrite and up arrow nitrotyrosine) were elevated in both genders of morbidly obese patients and were higher in the elderly. Interestingly, the concentrations of oxidative and nitrosative stress markers were generally higher in obese men compared to obese women at the same age. Summarizing, we showed that the total antioxidant/ oxidant potential of obese patients is significantly increased and shifted towards oxidation. Obese patients have increased lipid and protein oxidation, glycation and nitration as compared to the lean controls. Disturbances in redox homeostasis increase with age in obese patients. Oxidative and nitrosative stress are more intense in men than in women at the same age.

Automated summary

This study found that redox homeostasis in obese patients is affected by age and gender, with oxidative and nitrosative stress being more intense in men than in women and increasing with age.