Plasma Antioxidative Enzymes in Down Syndrome

Numerous biochemical abnormalities are present in Down Syndrome (DS) patients, and these abnormalities have not yet been completely-clarified, the antioxidant defense system enzymes have shown to be altered due to increased gene on chromosome 21. In this study we investigated the activities of plasma superoxide dismutase (SOD-1) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) enzymes and the levels of their cofactors zinc(zn) and sclenium(Se) in Plasma of 20 Down Syndrome patients14 males and 6 females with age ranging from 3-14 years, comparing the results with age and sex- matched controls (n=15). Plasma GSH-Px, SOD-1 were significantly decreased in DS patient group (p 0.001). Also their cofactors Zn and se were significantly; decreased with [p 0.05) and these changes in the plasma enzyme levels and their cofactors were not correlated to age or sex of the patients. We conclude that evaluation of these antioxidative enzymes and their cofactors are of great importance in DS patients.