Association between Serum Nitric Oxide Levels and Antioxidant Enzymes in Non-Diabetic Patients with Coronary Artery Diseases

Nitric Oxide (NO) is the relaxing factor of endothelium and may contribute to atherosclerosis. Decrement of Antioxidants is another risk factor for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) in Non-diabetic individual. This study was designed to investigate the NO concentration and Antioxidants levels in a group of patients with CAD in North West of Iran. One hundred fourty person studied, including 70 patients with angiographically diagnosed CAD and 70 age and sex matched normal controls were studied. Exclusion criteria were; diabetes, malignancies and liver disease. The levels of Nitric oxide in the serum samples of each individual were measured by Griess Method. The activities of SOD and GPX and Total Antioxidant Capacity were determined using Randox Kits on an automated chemical analyzer (Abbott, model Alcyon 300, USA). We found diminished levels of NO in CAD groups compared to controls (P‹0.05). Erythrocyte SOD, GPX activities and TAC level were reduced significantly in CAD patients (P‹0.05 in all cases). The low levels of NO might be another risk factor for progression of coronary artery disease in the non-diabetic patients. Decrease of Antioxidants also may suggest their involvement in atherosclerosis.