CHANGES OF LIPID PEROXIDE LEVELS IN BLOOD AND LIVER-TISSUE OF PATIENTS WITH OBSTRUCTIVE-JAUNDICE

Plasma lipid peroxide levels, hereafter referred to as PLP levels, wer e measured in a group of 40 apparently healthy controls and 64 choleli thiasis patients, 40 with and 24 without jaundice. Hepatic lipid perox ide (HLP) levels were also measured in 26 patients, 15 with and 11 wit hout jaundice. There was a significantly higher mean concentration of PLP in the jaundiced patients than in the control or jaundice-free cas es. However, the difference in PLP levels between the jaundice-free an d the control cases was insignificant. Meanwhile, patients with jaundi ce had significantly higher HLP levels than those without jaundice. In the jaundiced cases, the increased PLP and HLP levels were clearly re lated to the serum levels of bilirubin respectively. In addition, the HLP levels were positively correlated with the PLP levels, however, in the non-jaundiced cases, there was little evidence of these two relat ionships. Patients with or without jaundice had lower plasma vitamin E levels in comparison to the control cases. The correlation of plasma vitamin E and PLP levels was weak in all of the jaundiced. However, wh en we subdivided the jaundiced into two groups, the correlation was st rong in those with plasma vitamin E levels < 8.5 mug/ml, while the cor relation was weak in those with plasma vitamin E levels > 8.5 mug/ml. Consequently, these results suggest that there is an involvement of li pid peroxidation in liver cells damaged by obstructive jaundice in cho lelithiasis patients and there exists a negative correlation between l ow vitamin E and lipid peroxide levels in plasma.