İlKer Durak

The present study set out to investigate the effects of cigarette smoke on oxidant-antioxidant systems of homogenized bovine lung tissue and the possible protective effects of cigarette filters impregnated with vitamin C and lemon juice. Cigarette smoke was passed into bovine lung homogenate supernatant and malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, paraoxonase-1, nitric oxide synthase, and nitric oxide were determined. Malondialdehyde and nitric oxide levels were found to have increased as the dose of cigarette smoke increased and superoxide dismutase activity decreased with incremental doses of cigarette smoke exposure. Furthermore, the lemon juice impregnated filters scavenged nitric oxide. The cigarette smoke led to lipid peroxidation and a reduction in superoxide dismutase activity. Antioxidant impregnated filters could not prevent oxidative stress.

Tension-type headache (TTH) is one of the most common and costly primary types of headache in clinical practice, with an unknown etiology. This study assessed to investigate oxidative and antioxidative status in patients with chronic tension-type headache (CTTH), and to evaluate possible effect of medical treatment. The study included 41 CTTH patients and 19 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects without headache as controls. The CTTH group comprised 20 patients receiving treatment and 21 untreated patients. We evaluated oxidant/antioxidant status by measuring serum malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and activities of antioxidant enzymes, namely glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (CAT). Comparison of oxidative parameters in the patient and control groups revealed significantly lower CAT activities and higher MDA level and GSH-Px activities in the patient group. In the CTTH group, serum CAT activities were found to be significantly decreased in patient groups, while serum MDA levels and GSH-Px activities were found to be higher in the untreated CTTH patients. These findings suggest that oxidative stress is increased in the patients with CTTH, and medical treatment abolishes the stress in part. It has been concluded that antioxidant support might be helpful for the patients with CTTH to prevent oxidant stress and peroxidation damages further.