Estimation & significance of serum & synovial fluid malondialdehyde levelsin rheumatoid arthritis

Serum and synovial fluid (SF) levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), a marker of free radical induced lipid peroxidation, were estimated in patients of rheu matoid arthritis (RA) and compared with healthy controls and patients of os teoarthritis (OA). While serum MDA levels were similar in healthy controls (0.24+/-0.10 nmol/ml) and OA (0.28+/-0.11 nmol/ml), the serum levels in RA (0.47+/-0.19 nmol/ml) were significantly higher as com pared to both health y controls and OA patients; and correlated with synovial fluid (SF) MDA lev els. No difference was observed in SF-MDA levels in RA (0.17+/-0.07 nmol/ml ) and OA (0.16+/-0.09). MDA levels did not correlate with markers of diseas e activity in RA like joint counts, duration of morning stiffness, erythroc yte sedimentation rate etc. Increased serum MDA levels in RA suggest the ro le of free radicals in the pathogenesis of this inflammatory arthropathy an d support the need for further studies assessing the therapeutic role of fr ee radical scavengers in RA.