Correlation of NO metabolites and 8-iso-prostaglandin F2a with periventricular hyperintensity severity.

OBJECTIVE Oxidative stress and NO are thought to play important roles in arteriosclerosis pathogenesis, a major cause of white matter lesions in the brain. Therefore, we examined whether NO metabolites (NOx) and 8-iso-prostaglandin F(2alpha) (IsoP) levels in vivo correlated with the severity of periventricular hyperintensity (PVH) to evaluate potential roles of oxidative stress and NO in white matter lesions. METHODS AND RESULTS Participants (687 males and 528 females) of a health-screening examination were recruited into the study. The plasma NOx and urinary IsoP levels were measured using the Griess method and ELISA, respectively. PVH was diagnosed on the basis of MRIs. In nonparametric univariate trend analyses, plasma NOx as well as aging, presence of hypertension and of lacunes, mean blood pressure, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol showed highly significant monotone correlation with PVH severity (P</=0.01). By the multivariate ordinal regression analysis, the plasma NOx (P=0.002) and urinary IsoP (P=0.01) levels were found to be independent factors influencing the severity of PVH together with aging (P<0.001), presence of hypertension (P<0.001) and lacunes (P<0.001), and mean blood pressure (P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS Oxidative stress and NO have a close correlation with PVH severity. Oxidative stress and NO levels were evaluated in a general population with or without mild periventricular hyperintensity under a cross-sectional study design. Serum NOx (NO metabolites) and urinary 8-iso-PG F2alpha (a marker for oxidative stress) correlated with the severity of periventricular hyperintensity in a multivariate analysis.