[The effect of one-month antithyroid therapy on peripheral metabolism of reactive oxygen species in Graves' disease with infiltrative ophthalmopathy].

Local inflammation is characterized by oxidative stress present in situ, and may also influence reactive oxygen species peripheral metabolism. Infiltrative ophthalmopathy is considered as an inflammatory disorder of autoimmune background. This study estimated influence of hyperthyroidism and antithyroid treatment on peripheral parameters of oxidative stress in 65 Graves' patients (40 with and 24 without infiltrative ophthalmopathy). Age- and sex-matched 25 healthy volunteers served as controls. In all hyperthyroid patients hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), lipid hydroperoxides (ROOH), malondialdehyde, ceruloplasmin (CP), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were increased, whereas glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GR) were reduced. One-month methimazole treatment produced further elevation in H2O2 in all patients and CAT in the ophthalmopathy group, as well as partial reversal of SOD and CP in all patients, ROOH, GPx and GR in the non-ophthalmopathy group and CAT in patients without ophthalmopathy. In summary, our results confirm that changes of blood extracellular indices of reactive oxygen species metabolism in Graves' disease are influenced by the thyroid metabolic status. However, the differences of the parameters analysed after achievement of euthyroidism in the patients with and without infiltrative ophthalmopathy suggest an involvement of factors, presumably connected with orbital inflammation, which modify oxidative stress intensity.