Imbalanced free radicals and antioxidant defense systems in schizophrenia:A comparative study

Objective: To examine changes of blood oxidative-antiovidative level in schizophrenic patients and its relationship with clinical symptoms. Methods: Forty-six Chinese patients met DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disor- ders-IV) criteria for schizophrenia and fifty age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled in the present study. Baseline psychiatric symptom severity was assessed with brief psychiatric rating scale, positive and negative syndrome scale on the blood draw day. Fresh blood samples were collected to measure levels of nitric oxide and lipid peroxide in plasma as well as activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase in red blood cells by spectrophotometric assays simultaneously. Results: Comparison of the biochemical parameters indicated that the level of nitric oxide and lipid peroxide increased in patient group, which represented a positive correlation with positive scale scores; while the activities of three critical enzymes decreased and showed a negative linear correlation. Conclusion: This study showed that there are dysregulation of free radical metabolism and poor activities of the antioxidant defense systems in schizophrenic patients. Excess free radicals formation may play a critical role in the etiology of schizophrenia. Using antioxidants might be an effective therapeutic approach to partially alleviate or prevent the symptoms of schizophrenia.

Growth and antioxidant status of oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense fed with diets containing vitamin E

A feeding trial was carried out to investigate the dietary vitamin E requirement of the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense(weight of 0.3–0.4 g) and its effect role on antioxidant activity.Prawns were fed with seven levels of vitamin E(0,25,50,75,100,200,and 400 mg/kg diet) for 60 days.The results show that dietary vitamin E supplementation could significantly increased the prawn weight( P <0.05).The activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD) in the hepatopancreas was significantly higher in prawns fed with diets supplemented with ≤75 mg/kg vitamin E than in those fed with diets supplemented with 100–400 mg/kg vitamin E( P <0.05).The activity of catalase(CAT) in the hepatopancreas decreased significantly as dietary vitamin E supplementation increased( P <0.05),and no significant difference was detected in glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) activity between different dietary groups( P >0.05).The contents of vitamin E in the hepatopancreas and in the muscle increased with increasing dietary vitamin E.There was a linear correlation between the vitamin E level in diet and that in muscle,and between the vitamin E level in diet and that in the hepatopancreas.All the above results indicated that dietary vitamin E can be stored in the hepatopancreas and muscle and lower both the activities of SOD and CAT in the hepatopancreas,suggesting that it is a potential antioxidant in M.nipponense.Broken line analysis conducted on the weight gains of prawns in each diet group showed that the dietary vitamin E requirement for maximum growth is 94.10 mg/kg.

EFFECTS OF COMBINATION OF ACUPUNCTURE AND MOXIBUSTION WITH CHINESE DRUGS ON LIPIDS PEROXIDE AND ANTIOXIDASE IN PATIENTS OF VASCULAR DEMENTIA

In the present paper, blood lipids peroxide(LPO) level and activities of glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) and superoxide dismutase(SOD) were investigated before and after combined treatment of acupuncture and moxibustion and Chinese drugs in patients of vascular dementia(VD), and their results were compared with those in healthy persons with the similar ages to the patients. The results showed that the blood LPO level increased significantly, and the activities of SOD and GSH-Px reduced significantly in patients of VD as compared with those in the control group. Degrees of patient’s condition were related with amplitudes of the increase of LPO and the reduction of activities of GSHPx and SOD. Combined treatment of acupuncture and moxibustion and Chinese drugs could raise markedly activitles of blood GSH-Px and SOD, and lowered LPO level in the patients of VD, which are related to clinical therapeutic effects. It is considered that combination of acupuncture and moxibustion with Chinese drugs can increase the action of the antiperoxidative system in the patients of VD, exerting anti-peroxidative ability and clearing LPO and reducing the oxidative injury of the organism by oxygen free radical, which is one of mechanisms of combined treatment of acupuncture and moxibustion with Chinese drugs.