Affiliations: Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Malattie Cardiovascolari e Nefrourologiche, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italia
Note: [] Corresponding author: Prof. G. Caimi, Via Leonardo da Vinci 52, 90145 Palermo, Italy. Fax: +39 091 6554535; E-mail: caimigre@unipa.it
Abstract: Many papers have showed non univocal data about oxidative stress status and nitric oxide metabolites in essential hypertension. Considering this preamble we examined the total antioxidant status (TAS), the lipid peroxidation (LP), expressed as thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), the stable end products of nitric oxide (NOx) and LP/NOx ratio in 25 subjects with untreated mild essential hypertension. The obtained data show a significant increase in TBARS (p < 0.001) and NOx (p < 0.001) in hypertensives and no variation in TAS and in TBARS/NOx ratio. None of these parameters was statistically related to the metabolic parameters or to the blood pressure values. The high level of lipid peroxidation observed in this group of hypertensives suggests the timely and specific employment of antihypertensive and antioxidant agents while the NOx increase seems to confirm the inflammatory status accompanying this clinical condition.
Keywords: Essential hypertension, lipid peroxidation, total antioxidant status, NOx
