Total Antioxidant Capacity: Correlation with Other Antioxidants and Clinical Utility of Their Levels in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Aims: Oxidative stress is one of the major pathophysiologic hallmarks in the development of COPD and lung is protected against this by enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. Total antioxidant activity (TAC), may give more relevant biological information about the individual's overall antioxidant status compared to individual components. This study aims to evaluate correlation between TAC and other antioxidants bilirubin, albumin, urate and ceruloplasmin (CP) and explore the clinical utility of their levels in diagnosis of COPD.

Study Design: Comparison study.

Place and Duration of Study: Cardio Thoracic Centre, Pune and Department of Biochemistry, AFMC, Pune during Dec 2010 to Aug 2012.

Methodology: Study comprised of 86 normals as controls group and 86 confirmed COPD patients as COPD group. CP was estimated by patented kinetic method of Somani and Ambade, while all other analytes were estimated by using commercially available kits.

Results: CP was significantly higher in COPD patients (1392.8±281.6 IU/L) as compared to controls (1006.2±236.1 IU/L) while levels of albumin, urate and TAC were significantly lower in COPD patients. The levels in COPD and controls are albumin: 3.8±0.5 and 4.3± 0.4g/dL; urate: 4.4±1.3 and 5±1.3 mg/dL; TAC: 27.7±6.9 and 36±8.2 mmolTE/L respectively. No appreciable correlation was noticed between any individual antioxidant and TAC.

Conclusion: CP and TAC showed statistically significant differences between controls and COPD patients and may have clinical utility in the management of COPD. However, the estimation of TAC is to be done with extreme care.