Investigation of Antioxidant Status in Iraqi Patients with Beta- Thalassemia Major

Abstract

Background: Oxidative stress is the most common complication in Beta-thalassemia patients due to iron
over load that is resulted from long life blood transfusion leading to growth retardation, delay of sexual
maturation, and later involvement of the liver, heart, and endocrine system. Aim of study: Assess of some
antioxidant parameter status in serum and saliva of patients with beta-thalassemia major in comparison
with control subjects. Methodology: Total antioxidant (TAO), glutathione (GSH), uric acid (UA), urea (U)
and albumin were investigated in serum and saliva samples of all subjects. Results: Albumin level in
serum is significantly (P ˂ 0.00001) decreased in patients group (3.27 ± 0.17 g/dl) from that in control
group (3.59 ± 0.13 g/dl). However, TAO level was significantly elevated (P = 0.031) from (3.14 ± 1.38
U/ml) in the saliva of control group up to (4.09 ± 1.76 U/ml) in the saliva of patients group as well as
significant difference (P = 0.02) in salivary fraction index (Sf) only for TAO which is elevated from 0.47 in
control group up to 0.56 in patients group. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that the
serum level of albumin can be used as a good marker to reflect the liver status in TM patient in addition
to other conventional markers. Also this study suggested that saliva can be act as an alternative sample
to assess the antioxidant status in TM patients but need further investigation.
Keywords: Beta thalassemia major, Iron overload, Antioxidant, Saliva.