A three-month longitudinal study of changes in day/night serum total antioxidant capacity in paranoid schizophrenia

PLoS One. 2017 Dec 8;12(12):e0189348. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189348. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Free radicals and an oxidant/antioxidant imbalance have been involved in the schizophrenia pathophysiology. The total antioxidant capacity (TAC) is a measure of the antioxidant capacity of a system. Day/night changes are a biological characteristic of hormones such as melatonin or cortisol. There is little information about TAC day/night changes in schizophrenia patients. The aim of this research is to study if there are day/night changes in serum TAC levels of schizophrenia patients. Thirty-two DSM-IV schizophrenia paranoid patients were studied. Blood was sampled at 12:00 and 00:00 h at admission, discharge and three months after hospital discharge (TMAHD). TAC results are expressed as mmol of Trolox/L. Patients did not have day/night TAC differences at admission (12:00: 0.67±0.12 vs. 00:00: 0.61±0.14, p>0.14) or discharge (12:00: 0.65±0.15 vs. 00:00: 0.65±0.12, p>0.99). At TMHD, patients had significantly higher TAC levels at midday than midnight (12:00: 0.83±0.10 vs. 00:00: 0.74±0.12, p<0.006) as it has been reported in healthy subjects. There were no significant TAC differences at 12.00 and 00:00 between admission and discharge. At TMAHD, patients had significantly higher TAC levels than at admission and discharge, both at 12:00 and 00:00 h. In conclusion, the absence of day/night serum TAC changes when clinically relapsed and the normalization of day/night serum TAC changes at TMHD can be considered as a biological marker of schizophrenia evolution.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antioxidants / metabolism*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient Admission
  • Schizophrenia, Paranoid / blood*

Substances

  • Antioxidants

Grants and funding

This work was partly supported by a research grant (PI: 08/115) of the Fundacion Canaria de Investigacion y Salud (FUNCIS), which is part of the local government of the Canary Islands. The Consultoria Psiquiatrica SC provided support in the form of salary for authors (ALMF) but did not play a role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. There was no additional external funding received for this study.