Author(s): Mehar Sulthana S, Nandha Kumar S, Sridhar MG, Vishnu Bhat B, Ramachandra Rao K
Elevated oxidative stress in Down syndrome due to elevated levels of superoxide dismutase 1 can be assessed by estimating the products of lipid peroxidation - malondialdehyde and protein carbonylation .The present study included 31 clinically diagnosed and karyotypically confirmed Down syndrome children with equal number of age and sex matched controls. The levels of malondialdehyde (6.1 ± 2.5 μmol/L vs 3.1 ± 1.2 μmol/L) and protein carbonylation (5.0 ± 2 nmol/mg of protein vs 3.4 ± 0.4 nmol/mg of protein)were significantly elevated when compared with controls with p value of <0.001 and <0.0001 respectively. There was a significant increase in oxidative stress in children with Down syndrome as evidenced by elevated levels of malondialdehyde and protein carbonylation. Antioxidants may have beneficial effect in cases of Down syndrome.