Relationship between redox state of whole arterial blood glutathione and left ventricular function after acute myocardial infarction

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the role of oxidative stress in left ventricular function after acute myocardial infarction. METHODS: We studied 41 patients with acute myocardial infarction (30 men and 11 women, mean age 61.7 +/- 11.6 years) with Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction grade 3 recanalization of occluded coronary arteries within 12 hr after onset. Cardiac catheterization was performed at the time of admission and before discharge. Three markers for oxidative stress were measured: plasma lipid hydroperoxide, plasma creatol and whole arterial blood glutathione at the time of admission. RESULTS: Mean time from onset to recanalization was 5.2 +/- 0.6 hr. The patients were divided into two groups according to the changes in left ventricular wall motion (LVWM); patients who showed improvement in LVWM and those without improvement. There were no significant differences in age, sex, coronary risk factors, severity of coronary artery disease, time from onset to recanalization or ejection fraction between two groups. Maximum creatine kinase and C-reactive protein levels in patients without LVWM improvement were significantly higher than in patients with improvement. Plasma levels of lipid hydroperoxide and creatol did not differ significantly between two groups. On the other hand, reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione ratio in arterial blood in patients without LVWM improvement was significantly lower than in patients with LVWM improvement (69.8 +/- 3.4 vs 85.5 +/- 2.9, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that whole arterial blood glutathione is more oxidized in acute myocardial infarction patients without LVWM improvement than in patients with improvement. Redox state of arterial blood can be a predicting factor for left ventricular function after acute myocardial infarction.