Antioxidant Defense Expressed as Glutathione Status and Keap1-Nrf2 System Action in Relation to Anthropometric Parameters and Body Composition in Young Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Magdalena Chełchowska; Justyna Jurczewska; Joanna Gajewska; Joanna Mazur; Dorota Szostak-Węgierek; Ewa Rudnicka; Jadwiga Ambroszkiewicz

doi:10.3390/antiox12030730

Antioxidant Defense Expressed as Glutathione Status and Keap1-Nrf2 System Action in Relation to Anthropometric Parameters and Body Composition in Young Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Antioxidants (Basel). 2023 Mar 16;12(3):730. doi: 10.3390/antiox12030730.

Authors

Magdalena Chełchowska¹, Justyna Jurczewska², Joanna Gajewska¹, Joanna Mazur³, Dorota Szostak-Węgierek², Ewa Rudnicka⁴, Jadwiga Ambroszkiewicz¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Screening Tests and Metabolic Diagnostics, Institute of Mother and Child, Kasprzaka 17a, 01-211 Warsaw, Poland.
² Department of Clinical Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Warsaw, E Ciołka Str. 27, 01-445 Warsaw, Poland.
³ Department of Humanization in Medicine and Sexology, Collegium Medicum, University of Zielona Gora, 65-729 Zielona Gora, Poland.
⁴ Department of Gynecological Endocrinology, Medical University of Warsaw, Karowa 2, 00-315 Warsaw, Poland.

Abstract

Metabolic disorders present in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and the associated risk of obesity may result in increased oxidative stress and reproductive failure. Therefore, we evaluated the concentrations of reduced glutathione (GSH), oxidized glutathione (GSSG), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and reductase (GR), as well as nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and Kelch-like ECH-associating protein1 (Keap1) in the serum of 56 women with PCOS divided according to the visceral to subcutaneous fat surface ratio (VAT/SAT) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) values. Antioxidant parameter levels were measured by competitive inhibition enzyme immunoassay technique. As the VAT/SAT ratio and WHR increased, we observed significantly higher concentrations of GSSG and Keap1 protein and a lower value of the GSSG/GSH ratio (R-index), which is considered an index of cellular redox (p < 0.05). Negative correlations were found between the R-index and body weight, BMI, WHR, subcutaneous and visceral fat surface and the VAT/SAT ratio, and total body fat; positive links were found with fat free mass and total body water. Opposite associations were noted between GSSG level and the aforementioned body composition parameters. Oxidative stress characterized by a depleted reduced-to-oxidized glutathione index is associated with anthropometric and body composition parameters in women with PCOS. In particular, abdominal obesity expressed by the VAT/SAT ratio and/or WHR seems to have a negative impact on glutathione status, which may lead to a disruption of many biological cell processes. The observed negative association of Keap1 with R-index suggests that the elevated oxidative changes dependent on the VAT/SAT ratio may lead to Nrf2 activation to promote antioxidant enzyme expression. Although the GSH/GSSG index as well as the VAT/SAT ratio appear to be good indicators of oxidative status, studies on a larger group of patients should continue to confirm these links among women with PCOS.

Keywords: glutathione; glutathione peroxidase; glutathione reductase; nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2; obesity; oxidative stress; polycystic ovary syndrome.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.