Oxidative status in plasma, urine and saliva of girls with anorexia nervosa and healthy controls: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Plain English summary Anorexia nervosa is a serious psychosomatic disorder with increasing incidence worldwide. Numerous general medical complications affecting most major organ systems are caused by progressive malnutrition and rapid weight loss. However, precise pathomechanism involved in the pathogenesis of anorexia nervosa remains to be elucidated. A potential role of oxidative stress caused by metabolic disruption in the etiology of anorexia nervosa was already described in plasma or blood components. This study aimed to investigate whether redox imbalance could be detected even in alternative body fluids of patients with anorexia nervosa - urine and saliva. Samples from female patients (n = 111) with anorexia nervosa and healthy controls (n = 29) were collected and analysed in this study. Our results indicated that changes in redox homeostasis could be detected not only in plasma, but also in urine and saliva of patients with anorexia nervosa. This was shown by higher markers of oxidative stress - advanced oxidation protein products, fructosamines and advanced glycation end-products. Oxidative damage of biomolecules might have direct cytotoxic effect associated with increased expression of proinflammatory cytokines, growth factors etc. Thus, many medical complications of anorexia nervosa might be directly connected to the accumulation of oxidatively damaged biomolecules.

Keywords

• Eating disorder
• Malnutrition
• Oxidative status
• Antioxidants
• Biomarkers