Assessment of oxidative status in chronic pancreatitis and its relation with zinc status.

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress-induced free radicals have been implicated in the pathology of chronic pancreatitis (CP).

AIM: We aimed to estimate oxidative stress and antioxidant status in tropical chronic pancreatitis (TCP) and alcoholic chronic pancreatitis (ACP) and correlate with zinc status.

METHODS: One hundred and seventy-five CP patients (91 TCP, 84 ACP) and 113 healthy subjects were prospectively studied. Disease characteristics and imaging features were recorded. Erythrocyte reduced glutathione, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), plasma vitamin C, and erythrocyte thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) were estimated by spectrophotometry. Erythrocyte zinc was estimated by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

RESULTS: Enhanced lipid peroxidation with concomitant decrease in antioxidant status was observed in both TCP and ACP patients (p < 0.05). The findings were comparable in both diabetic and non-diabetic CP patients. Significantly, lower plasma vitamin C and elevated levels of erythrocyte TBARS was noted in TCP as compared to ACP patients. The erythrocyte zinc significantly correlated with SOD activity (r = 0.450, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Our study corroborates the role of oxidative stress in CP and suggests some differences in oxidative status in TCP and ACP patients. Zinc deficiency appears to affect oxidative status in CP patients.