Altered oxidative stress levels in Indian Parkinson's disease patients with PARK2 mutations.

The aim of this pilot study was to determine the baseline state of oxidative stress indices in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Peripheral blood samples of 15 PD subjects were analyzed and compared with ten age matched healthy controls. Patients with PARK2 mutations were also compared with PD patients without mutations. There was significant increase in malondialdehyde content and superoxide-dismutase (SOD) activity in peripheral blood parameters in PD patients (p < 0.05) in comparison to controls. These findings suggest an important role of oxidative stress in Parkinson's disease evolution and progress. No changes were observed in glutathione peroxidase and nitric oxide levels. We found significant correlation between SOD activity and lipid peroxidation when the biochemical data was further analyzed. In addition, significant increase in the levels of SOD among the PD patients with PARK2 mutations was observed, which can be ascribed to chronic oxidative stress induced by PARK2 mutations.