Assessment of antioxidant enzyme activities in erythrocytes of pre-hypertensive and hypertensive women

BACKGROUND: Few studies that have investigated hypertension have considered a state of oxidative stress that can contribute to the development of atherosclerosis and other hypertension induced organ damage. The aim of this study was to investigate whether pre-hypertension and hypertension status is associated with activities of erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes in a random sample of cardiovascular disease-free women. METHODS: In this case-control study, 53 pre-hypertensive women, 32 hypertensive women and 75 healthy controls were included. General information was gathered using questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. Blood pressure and anthropometric measurements were measured for each subject. Venous blood samples were drawn from subjects and plasma was separated. Activities of erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes were also evaluated by measuring activities of copper zinc-superoxide dismutase (CuZn-SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and catalase (CAT) in selected subjects. RESULTS: Fifty-three (33.1%) and 32 (20%) participants were pre-hypertensive and hypertensive, respectively. The hypertensive and pre-hypertensive women had lower CuZn-SOD (p < 0.001) and GPX (p < 0.01) activities compared to normotensives. Furthermore, hypertensive women had lower CAT activity compared to pre-hypertensive and normotensive women (p < 0.001). Moreover, significant differences were also observed between hypertensive and pre-hypertensive women in erythrocyte CAT activity (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The present findings show that activities of erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes decrease in pre-hypertensive and hypertensive women, which may eventually lead to atherosclerosis and other high blood pressure related health problems.