Cardiac enzymes, total thiols and lipid peroxidation in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Background: Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of acute myocardial infarction. In the current work, we have measured malondialdehyde (MDA), total thiols, total creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase-MB isoenzyme (CK-MB) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in electrocardiogram (ECG) proven acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients at 12 hours after the onset of chest pain and also in healthy controls. Methods: Blood samples from 25 AMI patients and 25 age and sex matched healthy controls were obtained for the measurement of cardiac enzymes like total CK, CK-MB and AST by using an automated analyzer. Serum MDA and total thiols were determined by using spectrophotometric methods. Results: We have found a significant increase in MDA, total CK, CK-MB and AST (p< 0.001) and a significant decrease in total thiols (p<0.001) in AMI patients as compared to the healthy controls. MDA correlated negatively with total thiols (r = - 0.573, p<0.01) and positively with CK-MB (r = 0.845, p<0.01) and AST (r = 0.676, p<0.01) in the AMI patients. Conclusions: Reactive oxygen species play a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, thus leading to acute coronary events and their levels are further elevated by the ischaemic event itself.