Médecine traditionnelle et naturopathie clinique

Abstrait

Erythrocyte and Plasma Antioxidants in Bronchial Asthma Before and After Homeopathic Treatment

Shiefa Pinto, Ashalatha V Rao and Anjali Rao

Objective: Oxidative stress is involved in the pathophysiology of bronchial asthma. The present study was done to assess the effectiveness of practicing homeopathy in modulating free radical toxicity in bronchial asthma by measuring some parameters of oxidant stress and antioxidant defenses in blood, before and after homeopathy treatment.

Methods: In the present study, erythrocyte lipid peroxidation (LP), erythrocyte antioxidants viz., glutathione (GSH), glutathione reductase (GR), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CT) and plasma antioxidants viz., ceruloplasmin, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), vitamin C, total antioxidant activity (AOA) have been determined in 41 patients with bronchial asthma and 53 control subjects. Twenty three patients who were treated with homeopathic remedies were considered for the follow-up studies.

Results:Erythrocyte LP (0 hour, p<0.001; 2 hours, p<0.001; and susceptibility to LP, p<0.01) and SOD (p<0.05) were significantly higher, whereas plasma vitamin C (p<0.001) and AOA (p<0.001) were significantly lower in bronchial asthma patients when compared to controls. In follow-up patients the erythrocyte LP (0 hour, p<0.01; 2 hours, p<0.001; and susceptibility to LP, p<0.001) and SOD (p<0.01) were significantly lower when compared to their pretreatment values. Plasma vitamin C attained a normal range. The AOA activity after treatment was not significantly different from that observed before treatment.

Conclusion:The present study showed an imbalancebetween antioxidants and oxidants in bronchial asthma. Oxidative stress had increased as indicated by increased LP, increased SOD, decreased vitamin C and decreased AOA. On homeopathic treatment the LP had decreased in the erythrocytes which shows that homeopathic treatment has some effect in reducing oxidative stress. This is further evidenced by returning of plasma vitamin C and erythrocyte SOD to the normal levels, but oxidant stress has not been completely overcome within the period of study as plasma AOA has still not returned to normal control levels. Thus, a prooxidant mileu exists in asthma patients which tends to normalize after homeopathic treatment.