Pro and Antioxidant Systems in Juvenile, Rheumatoid and Osteo Arthritis

Arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease with an interaction of various genetic and environmental factors. It is a heterogenous group of disorder with different etiological and pathogenetic mechanisms. Lipid peroxidation is the prevailing mechanism in various inflammatory disorders. Hence the present study is aimed at evaluating the status of pro and antioxidants in the etiology of arthritis. Blood samples from 291 arthritis and 125 healthy controls matched for age and sex have been collected from Orthopedic Unit of Vaidya Vidhan Parishad, King koti , Hyderabad. Levels of malondialdehyde, ceruloplasmin and nitric oxide were analysed in serum and plasma samples by following appropriate methods. Mean levels of malondialdehyde was found to be significantly elevated in rheumatoid and osteoarthritis compared to controls where as a slight decrease was observed in juvenile arthritis compared to juvenile controls. Ceruloplasmin was also found to be elevated in juvenile arthritis compared to controls indicating the role of CP as an antioxidant in the etiology of Juvenile arthritis. Nitric oxide levels were significantly elevated in rheumatoid arthritis compared to control subjects. The findings can be correlated to the homeostatic role of pro/anti oxidant mechanisms resulting in delineating the subset of arthritis with juvenile arthritis being purely genetic and autoimmune rheumatoid arthritis being inflammatory change with oxidative stress and osteoarthritis resulting due to the disturbance in homeostasis of pro and antioxidants.