Oxidative stress, hepcidin and nesfatin-I status in childhood iron and vitamin B12 deficiency anemias.

BACKGROUND

Anemia is a disease that is long and often repetitive and can result in a great burden to the national economy. The most frequent nutritional deficiency anemias in children are related with iron and vitamin B12 deficiencies.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to determine the oxidative stress, hepcidin, and nesfatin-I levels in childhood iron and vitamin B12 deficiency anemias.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study had 3 groups of 15 children, iron anemia deficiency group, vitamin B12 deficiency group and a control group.

RESULTS

The TBARS and nesfatin-I levels were significantly higher in the iron and vitamin B12 deficiency groups and the total antioxidant levels were significantly lower when compared to the control group. In contrast, the plasma hepcidin levels were significantly lower in the iron deficiency group (p < 0.01) when compared to the control group; however, no significant differences were observed in the vitamin B12 deficiency group. Plasma homocysteine levels were significantly higher in the vitamin B12 deficiency group when compared to the control group (p < 0.001), but no differences were determined between the iron deficiency and control groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results showed that there are high levels of oxidative stress in childhood iron and vitamin B12 deficiency anemias, and we propose that plasma hepcidin and homocycteine levels may be useful in the differential diagnosis of childhood nutritional deficiency anemias. Nesfatin-1 hormone levels were identified for the first time in childhood iron deficiency and vitamin B12 deficiency anemias within this study and this hormone may also be useful in the differential diagnosis of anemias.