Relationship of Free Fatty Acid/Albumin Molar Ratio with Indicators of Erythrocyte Injury in Clinical Conditions with Hypoalbuminemia / 대한임상병리학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Free fatty acids are well known as an energy source. However, theoretically it could be destructive through oxygen free radical chain reactions unless they are bound to albumin in blood. Recently, the toxicity of oxidative agents in several diseases, and additionally the behavior of antioxidants including albumin against this have been suggested. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between free fatty acid/albumin molar ratio and erythrocyte injury in this study. METHODS: Free fatty acid and albumin were analysed in thirty-eight hypoalbuminemia patients and fifty-six healthy controls. To measure the erythrocyte injury, hemoglobin, absolute and relative reticulocyte counts, and lactate dehydrogenase (LD) were also examined. In addition, glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined in both fifteen patients and fifteen controls, respectively. RESULTS: The albumin levels in study group (3.06+/-0.28 g/dL) were significantly lower than those of control group (4.94+/-0.21 g/dL). The hemoglobin, reticulocyte counts, and LD levels in study group were significantly different from those of control group (P<0.01), but the free fatty acid concentrations showed no difference between two groups. The free fatty acid/albumin molar ratio in study group was significantly higher than control values. In study group, there were significant correlations between the free fatty acid/albumin molar ratio and (a) LD (r=0.43, P< 0.05), (b) relative reticulocyte count (r=0.39, P<0.05), and (c) hemoglobin (r=-0.31, P<0.01), respectively. The GPX and SOD activities in study group were not statistically different from the control values. There was an inverse correlation between albumin and GPX concentrations in study group (r=-0.36, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that toxic effect of unbound free fatty acid with decreased albumin activity as antioxidant may be involved in the cellular injury in hypoalbuminemia patients. Further studies for the correlation of free fatty acid/albumin molar ratio with individual antioxidant status are needed.