The Relationship Between Serum Malondialdehyde and Ceruloplasmin in Chronic Liver Disease

Oxygen free radicals play an important role in the pathogenesis of tissue damage in many pathological conditions, including liver diseases. The present study aims to investigate the possible relationship between serum malondialdehyde level, an index of lipid peroxidation, and ceruloplasmin level, a protective agent against lipid peroxidation, in chronic liver disease. A total of 65 consecutive patients enrolled in the study were divided into three subgroups consisted of 20 liver cirrhosis patients with ascites, 25 liver cirrhosis cases without ascites and 20 patients with various types of chronic hepatitis. Control group consisted of 20 healthy subjects. Serum malondialdehyde and ceruloplasmin levels, and routine biochemical analyses were assayed. The mean serum malondialdehyde level of the group 1 was found to be significantly higher than that of the group 2 (p<0.01) and also the mean serum malondialdehyde level was found to be higher in groups 1, 2 and 3 than that in the control group (p<0.0001 for all groups). There was no significant differences in any of these groups with respect to serum ceruloplasmin levels. It was found that there was an inverse relationship between serum malondialdehyde and albumin values in all groups. No correlation was found between the serum ceruloplasmin and malondialdehyde contents and serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, total bilirubin and total protein concentrations. It was found that serum malondialdehyde level was significantly higher in patients with chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis than that of the control subjects whereas the serum ceruloplasmin level din’t alter in any of the study groups. No correlation was detected between the serum malondialdehyde and ceruloplasmin levels in patients with chronic liver disease. It was suggested that increase in the serum malondialdehyde level might be associated with an imbalance of other antioxidants rather than ceruloplasmin in chronic liver diseases.