Increased Oxidative Stress Markers in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients Treated with Thrombolytics

One of the most common neurological disorders involving oxidative stress is stroke. During a stroke, the balance of redox potential in the cell is disturbed, and, consequently, protein oxidation or other intracellular damage occurs, ultimately leading to apoptosis. The pineal gland hormone, melatonin, is one of the non-enzymatic antioxidants. It not only modulates the perianal rhythm but also has anti-inflammatory properties and protects against stress-induced changes. The focus of this research was to evaluate the concentration of the carbonyl groups and melatonin metabolite in time in patients with acute ischemic stroke that were treated with intravenous thrombolysis. This included a comparison of the functional status of patients assessed according to neurological scales with the control sample comprising healthy people. The studies showed that the serum concentrations of carbonyl groups, which were elevated in patients with ischemic stroke (AIS) in comparison to the control samples, had an impact on the patients’ outcome. A urine concentration of the melatonin metabolite, which was lower in patients than controls, was related to functional status after 24 h from cerebral thrombolysis. It shows that determination of carbonyl groups at different time intervals may be an important potential marker of protein damage in patients with AIS treated with cerebral thrombolysis, and that impaired melatonin metabolism induces a low antioxidant protection. Thus, due to the neuroprotective effects of melatonin, attention should also be paid to the design and conduct of clinical trials and hormone supplementation in AIS patients to understand the interactions between exogenous melatonin and its endogenous rhythm, as well as how these relationships may affect patient outcomes.