Lipid peroxidation, osmotic fragility and antioxidant status in children with acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis.

Plasma and erythrocyte samples from acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis (APSGN) children and control children were enrolled in this study. Lipid peroxidation (LPO), measured in terms of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) was found to be significantly increased in plasma and RBCs of APSGN children (P<0.05) than in control children. Osmotic fragility of erythrocytes was examined. RBCs of APSGN patients were found to be osmotically more sensitive towards hypotonic saline (50% hemolysis at 7 g/l saline) when compared to control RBCs (50% hemolysis at 4 g/l saline). The activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) were significantly lowered (P<0.05) in APSGN RBCs when compared to control RBCs. Plasma ascorbic acid, reduced glutathione (GSH), RBC ascorbic acid, GSH and RBC total sulphydryl content (TSH) were significantly depleted in APSGN children relative to controls. The susceptibility of RBCs of APSGN children to lipid peroxidation was confirmed in this study.