Cytokines, Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Defense in Isolated and Concomitant Brain Injury

Abstract

Objective: to study a relationship of the parameters of the cytokine status to the biochemical markers of oxidative stress and antioxidant defense (AOD) as the links of a systemic inflammatory reaction in victims with severe isolated and concomitant brain injury (BI). Subjects and methods. The study was conducted in 12 victims with severe isolated BI and in 14 with severe concomitant BI, aged 18 to 69 years, who were treated at the Unit of Anesthesiology and Reanimatology, Rostov-on-Don City Emergency Medical Care Hospital Two. Results. A direct average correlation was found between the level of IL-4 and the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the red blood cells on days 1—3 and 5—7 after the onset of injury in the patients with severe isolated BI. Those with concomitant BI showed a direct average correlation between the plasma level of MDA and the concentration of IL-10 on days 1—3 after the onset of injury. In patients with concomitant BI, there was a relationship between the imbalance in the cytokine status and the destruction of cell biomembranes, which is evidenced by dissociation in the presence of an inverse average correlation between the content of IL-6 and the level of MDA in the red blood cells and a direct strong correlation between the content of IL-6 and the level of MDA in the plasma. Conclusion. The findings suggest that in traumatic brain injury, imbalance in the cytokine system is associated with oxidative stress and AOD activation, which permits these processes to be regarded as components of a common mechanism of brain injury. This regularity is particularly evident in victims with concomitant BI. Key words: brain injury, lipid peroxidation system, antiox-idant defense, cytokine status.