Thoracic Research and Practice
Clinical Study

Serum Trace Element Levels in Bronchial Asthma

1.

Department of Allergy and Biochemistry, Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey

Thorac Res Pract 2001; 2: Turkish Respiratory Journal 10-15
Read: 620 Downloads: 300 Published: 08 October 2021

Background: Free radicals have been proposed to be responsible from the pathogenesis of many diseases because of their harmful effects on the cells and tissues. There are some defence mecha­nisms in the organism to avoid the harmful effects of free radicals. The enzymes responsible from antioxidant defense have trace ele­ments like selenium, zinc and copper within their structure. Decreased levels of these elements lead to a reduction in antioxi­dant activity. This study was conducted to determine serum lev­els of some trace elements (Se, Zn, Cu) in asthmatic patients dur­ing acute attacks, after inhaled corticosteroid therapy and during asymptomatic periods in order to evaluate the relation of these elements to different clinical phases of asthma.

Medhods :The study and control cases included 40 asthmatic chil­dren being followed up in Department of Pediatric Allergy Dokuz Eylül Universty Medical Faculty, and 19 children presenting with enuresis noctuma and having no personal or family history of allergy. Patients presenting with acute asthmatic attacks (study group 1, n=22) were evaluated before the treatment (pretreat­ment) and after three months of Fluticasone Propionate (400 mg daily) therapy (posttreatment).The other study group included asthmatic patients who were asymptomatic (study group 2, n=18). Control group was the children presenting with enuresis with (group 3, n= 19). Serum selenium, zinc and copper levels were mea­sured in all cases. In addition, pulmonary function tests were per­formed and FVC and FEV1 were determined in all of the children.

Results: Serum selenium and zinc levels during acute attacks and after inhaled corticosteroid therapy were significantly differ­ent in groupl, being lower during acute attacks (p<0.05). However, pre and posttreatment serum copper levels did not dif­fer (p>0.05). FVC and FEV1 were also statistically different in the pre and posttreatment periods (p<0.05). Although serum selenium and zinc levels were significantly lower when group 1 (pretreatment) was compared with groups 2 and 3 (p<0.05), serum copper levels did not differ between the groups (p>0.05). FVC and FEV1 were also significantly different between the three groups (p<0.05).

Conclusion: These results show that, there is an oxidant stress in bronchial asthma, and antioxidant capacity decreases in par­allel to a decrease in serum selenium and zinc levels. This leads to a further increase in oxidant stress, and as a result, inflam­mation and hyperreactivity in the airways becomes more evi­dent.We speculate that, dietary deficiencies in selenium and zinc should be avoided with proper supplementations in the manage­ment of airway inflammation due to free oxygen radicals in asth­matic patients to increase the effect of antioxidant defense sys­tem.

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EISSN 2979-9139