Malondialdehyde, Antioxidant Defense System Components and Their Relationship with Anthropometric Measures and Lipid Metabolism Biomarkers in Apparently Healthy Women.

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Since atherosclerosis, an inflammatory, lipid-driven disease, is an underlying basis for the development of cardiovascular disease, it is important to understand its relationship with confounding factors, such as oxidative lipid degradation. In contrast, circulating antioxidants prevent oxidative lipid damage, and therefore, may be associated with reduced development of atherosclerosis. We aimed to assess oxidative lipid degradation biomarker malondialdehyde (MDA) and antioxidant defense system components, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) inhibition rate levels, in healthy women and evaluate their relationships with age, anthropometric measures, and lipid metabolism biomarkers. The study included 86 healthy middle-aged women. MDA in human serum samples was evaluated by HPLC, and the TAC and SOD inhibition rates were measured by photometric methods. MDA was found to be associated with age, total cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, apolipoprotein B and triacylglycerols. TAC was shown to be associated with age, BMI, and waist circumference, as well as lipid metabolism biomarkers apolipoprotein B and triacylglycerol, while SOD inhibition rate was only associated with total cholesterol, apolipoprotein B and triacylglycerols. In conclusion, the association of oxidative status indices, MDA, TAC and SOD, with cardiovascular risk factors suggests that they could be additional useful biomarkers in the research of aging, obesity, and atherosclerosis pathogenesis.

Macro-Aspartate Aminotransferase and Its Laboratory Detection: A Case Report.

Background: Increased enzyme activity in human blood serum is usually associated with the existence of disease. On the other hand, enzyme activity can also be elevated in the presence of benign conditions, such as macro-enzymes. Macro-enzymes could lead to highly unnecessary and invasive procedures which may cause complications to the patient and an extra cost for the hospital. Therefore, it is important to diagnose this condition in order to avoid unnecessary clinical tests. Case Presentation: We present a case of a 71-year-old asymptomatic female with persistent elevation of AST who was referred to our hospital for additional testing for underlying liver disease. By using polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation assay, we were able to identify macro-AST. This helped to avoid the high-risk liver biopsy procedure. Conclusion: In the case of an isolated elevation of AST activity with no clinical indications of liver disease, diagnostic work-up for macro-AST should always be considered by physicians.