[Retrospective biochemical study of the preventive property of antioxidants in retinopathy of prematurity].

Oxygen radical injury may be one of the factors leading to Retinopathy of Prematurity. It occurs when the body's natural antioxidant capacity is overwhelmed by the free oxygen radicals produced during the perinatal period. Supposing, that premature infants may have defects in their antioxidant systems which can be detected later, even in childhood, a retrospective study of 36 patients of different ages (born prematurely) suffering from different stages of Retinopathy of Prematurity was carried out. According to our results, the signs of an acute oxidative stress could only be seen in the 3 month-old patients' erythrocyte glutathione redox system which was independent of the clinical severity of retinopathy. However, following an in vitro oxidative stress an increased susceptibility of erythrocytes was found in all our patient groups, which means, that the ratio of residual and original amounts of reduced glutathione was decreased and the amount of oxidated derivates of haemoglobin was increased. As selenium is an integral part of glutathione peroxidase enzyme, the very low selenium levels measured in all of our patient groups indicate a reduced glutathione peroxidase activity. The present study suggests, that selenium depletion even in Hungary might play an important role in the pathogenesis of Retinopathy of Prematurity.