Assessment of Malondialdehyde, 8-iso prostaglandin F2a, 8-hydroxy-2ʹʹ-deoxyguanosine Factors and Protein Carbonyl Groups as Markers of Oxidative Stress in the Fasting Individuals in Tehran

Background: Oxidative stress causes intracellular imbalances and various diseases. Calorie restriction can reduce the damages caused by oxidative stress. Method: The subjects, who were healthy males and females able to fast for a month, were randomly selected from the staff of Hippocrates and Imam Khomeini hospitals. Samples of their serum and urine were collected three times, i.e. 4 days before fasting as control, on the 14th day of fasting, and on the 29th day of fasting. Plasma malondialdehyde levels were measured using HPLC technique, while the levels of protein carbonyl groups in plasma, and the levels of 8-iso prostaglandin F2? and 8-hydroxy-2ʹ-deoxyguanosine in urine were measured by means of ELISA technique. The data was analyzed using SPSS, Ver. 20 and the level of statistical significance was considered to be p < 0.05. Results: Totally, 60 subjects participated in the study, where seven participants were male (11%) and 53 subjects (89%) were female. Mean and SD of the age of the participants were 37±10 years. Concentrations of plasma malondialdehyde and 8-iso prostaglandin F2? in urine showed a significant decrease during fasting in Ramadan in all subjects compared with the control samples; moreover, their levels in the third sampling round was significantly lower than that in the second one (p < 0.01). Except for the concentration of 8-hydroxy-2ʹ-deoxyguanosine, which was higher in females, no significant differences was found in the levels of other parameters between males and females. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that fasting for a month can reduce the progression of the diseases that oxidative stress is involved in. Further studies are needed to generalize these findings.