Background: Oxidative stress (OS) is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The incidence of CVD is lower among kidney transplantation (KT) recipients than hemodialysis patients, and the reduction in OS may be one reason for this difference. Recently, serum sulfatides were recognized as a candidate inhibitory factor of CVD affected by OS. However, the long-term changes in OS and serum sulfatide levels in KT recipients are unknown.
Methods: We investigated the long-term changes in a serum OS marker, malondialdehyde (MDA), and the serum sulfatide levels in 17 KT recipients. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the factors correlated with serum sulfatide levels.
Results: The high serum levels of MDA in the KT recipients decreased dramatically but were still high 1 year after KT surgery. MDA levels decreased further and reached near-normal levels more than 3 years after the surgery. Similarly, over the same 3 years, the low serum sulfatide levels increased to near-normal levels, reaching saturation. Multiple regression analysis showed that the most significant factors influencing serum sulfatide levels were MDA and total cholesterol content.
Conclusions: The current results show that over the long term, the internal improvement brought about by successful KT can normalize OS. Oxidative normalization was significantly correlated with the restoration of serum sulfatide levels, which were also influenced by lipoprotein metabolism. The amelioration of serum sulfatide levels might contribute to the low incidence of CVD in KT recipients.