Lipid Peroxidation and Lipid Metabolism in Postmenopausal Women

Authors: Banu ÖNVURAL, Hülya ÖZTÜRE, Ata ÖNVURAL, Meral FADILOĞLU

Abstract: The aims of this study were to determine the degree of lipid peroxidation in the sera of postmenopausal women and compare this with the lipid peroxidation of a premenopausal group, and to see if there was any correlation between lipid parameters and lipid peroxidation within the groups. We assayed the lipid profiles and malondialdehyde (MDA), a marker for lipid peroxidation, in a postmenopausal group (n=57, mean age=49.4±6.6), an age-matched male group (n=21, mean age=48.5±6.7) and a control group (n=31, mean age=27.7±5.2). MDA was measured as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) using a modified version of Yagi's method. MDA was significantly higher (p<0.001) in the postmenopausal group (2.61±0.69 nmol/ml) than the control group (1.66±0.79 nmol/ml) and the age-matched male group (1.35±0.4 nmol/ml). There was a significant correlation between age and lipid peroxides in the women (r=0.665) but not in the men. However, the correlation between lipid peroxides and total cholesterol, as well as triglycerides, HDL- and LDL-Cholesterol were not statistically significant within the two groups. This study suggests that aging and lack of oestrogen may be responsible for the increase in the MDA levels of postmenopausal women. Further studies should be carried out to explain the higher levels of MDA in postmenopausal women and assess the effectiveness of treatment with diet and hormone replacement therapy both with and without antioxidant supplementation.

Keywords: Malondialdehyde, postmenopausal women, lipid peroxidation.

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