ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Protein Thiols in Essential Hypertension Patients

Background: Essential hypertension is one of the most prevalent diseases of the world and is an unequivocal risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Several previous studies have shown that increased free radical activity is suggested to play an important role in the lipid peroxidation and protein oxidationof cellular structures causing cell injury and is implicated in the pathogenesis of vascular disease and essential hypertension is one ofthem. The thiols groups on proteins are known to play a major role in maintaining the antioxidant status of the body. Aims and Objectives: The current study was designed to find out the levels of such protein bound thiols in essential hypertension patients. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 45 essential hypertension patients and 25 healthy subjects without any underlying medical disorder as controls. Patients were divided into three groups according to the 2003 European Society of Hypertension-European Society of Cardiology (ESH/ ESC) guidelines (grade I, II,III). Serum and urine protein thiols were determined by spectrophotometric methods using dithionitrobenzoic acid (DTNB) andcorrelated with blood pressure (BP). Results: There was a significant decrease in serum protein thiols in essential hypertensive patients compared to healthy controls (p<0.01) and correlated positively with grade II and grade III essential hypertension. In urine samples there was a significant increase in protein and a decrease in protein bound thiols (p<0.01) which also correlated positively with grade II and grade III essential hypertension. Conclusions: Protein bound thiols; the major antioxidants in the body are decreased in essential hypertensive patients. Due to increased consumption of protein bound thiols in such oxidative environment, there was a significant decrease in protein bound thiols in urine.