AGE-RELATED ALTERATIONS IN LIPID PEROXIDATION AND ACTIVITIES OF ERYTHROCYTE CYTOPROTECTIVE ENZYMES IN WOMEN

Introduction: the incidence of atherosclerosis increases with age, as do various indices of free-radical-mediated damage, e.g. lipid peroxidation. because antioxidant enzymes are the major defense system of cells in normal aerobic reactions, we aimed to assess the age-related alterations in the activity of erythrocyte cytoprotective enzymes among women.methods: one hundred sixty 20-45-year-old women were randomly selected among women receiving the services of rural health centers of kerman province, iran. data were gathered by using questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. we assessed lipid peroxidation by measuring the concentrations of plasma malondialdehyde (mda), total antioxidant capacity (tac), and the activities of erythrocyte copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (cuzn-sod), glutathione peroxidase (gpx) and catalase (cat).results: those individuals in the highest quartiles of age and number of pregnancies presented the highest levels of plasma mda (p<0.001). we also observed an inverse relationship between age and erythrocyte cuzn-sod and gpx activities. although we found no significant difference between age groups in respect of erythrocyte cat activity and/or plasma tac levels, erythrocyte gpx activity was negatively correlated with the number of pregnancies (p<0.001) . no significant difference was found between age groups and/or between quartiles of number of pregnancies for either energy or nutrient intake. plasma mda levels were positively related to age (r=0.307; p<0.0001), number of pregnancies (r=0.250; p<0.001), fat intake (r=0.281; p<0.05) and vitamin e intake (r=0.356; p<0.01). furthermore, there were negative correlations both between age and gpx activity (r= -0.280; p<0.0001) as well as with cuzn-sod(r= -0.228; p<0.005).conclusions: lipid peroxidation and antioxidants were affected by age. erythrocyte cytoprotective enzymes have an important role in detoxification of free radicals in the body; the age-related decrease in the activities of these enzymes might contribute to atherogenesis, along with classic risk factors.