Objective: To identify associations of fatty acids (FAs) with the antioxidant enzymes in the blood of men with coronary atherosclerosis and ischemic heart disease (IHD).
Methods: The study included 80 patients: control group-20 men without IHD, the core group-60 men with IHD. The core group was divided into subgroups: subgroup A-with the presence of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques, subgroup B-with the absence of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques. We analyzed the levels of FAs, free radicals, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in the blood.
Results: Patients with IHD, compared with the control group: (1) had higher levels of SOD, CAT, myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic, and octadecenoic FAs; (2) had lower levels of GPx, α-linolenic, docosapentaenoic, docosahexaenoic, and arachidonic FAs. In subgroup A there were found: (1) negative associations of SOD-with linoleic, eicosatrienoic, arachidonic, eicosapentaenoic, docosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic FAs, positive associations-with palmitic acid; (2) positive correlations of CAT level with palmitoleic and stearic acids; (3) negative associations between of GPx and palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic and octadecenoic FAs.
Conclusions: Changes in the levels of antioxidant enzymes, and a disbalance of the FAs profile, probably indicate active oxidative processes in the body and may indicate the presence of atherosclerotic changes in the vessels.
Keywords: catalase; coronary atherosclerosis; glutathione peroxidase; ischemic heart disease; monounsaturated fatty acids; oxidative stress; polyunsaturated fatty acids; saturated fatty acids; superoxide dismutase.