[Lipid peroxidation and the status of the basal membrane of the acinar cells in the minor salivary glands of patients with Sjögren's syndrome].

Lipid peroxidation parameters were assessed from the levels of malonic dialdehyde, antioxidant activity from the blood and salivary total antioxidant activity, biopsy specimens of the minor salivary glands were examined by electron microscopy in 34 patients with Sjogren's disease. Both blood and salivary levels of malonic dialdehyde were found increased whereas total antioxidant activity lowered in these patients; destructive changes were detected in the acinar cells basal membranes. The authors suggest that spontaneous (because of insufficiency of antioxidant enzymic systems) lipid peroxidation reactions are responsible for these changes.