Antioxidant status and lipoprotein peroxidation in chronic fatigue syndrome

The aetiology and pathogenesis of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) an sti ll largely unresolved. Accompanying metabolic disorders such as selective n -6 fatty acid depletion suggest that oxidative stress and more specifically lipid peroxidation might play a role in its pathogenesis. In order to inve stigate this hypothesis, oxidant-antioxidant status and its impact on lipop rotein peroxidation in vitro was examined in 61 patients with unexplained f atigue lasting more than 1 month. They were subdivided into 2 groups: group CFS + (33 subjects) fulfilled the 1988 Center of Disease Control criteria for CFS and group CFS - did not but was similar as regards age, sex distrib ution and clinical characteristics, Antioxidant status was similar in the 2 groups except for lower serum transferrin in the CFS + (mean (95 % CI) 2.4 1 (2.28-2.54) versus 2.73 (2.54-2.92) g/L in the CFS-,p = 0.009) and higher lipoprotein peroxidation in vitro: 6630 (5949-7312) versus 5581 (4852-6310 ) nmol MDA/mg LDL and VLDL cholesterol X minutes, p = 0.035), CFS intensifi ed the influence of LDL cholesterol (p = 0.012) and of transferrin (p = 0.0 45) on peroxidation in vitro, suggesting additional pro-oxidant effects, Th ese results indicate that patients with CFS have increased susceptibility o f LDL and VLDL to copper-induced peroxidation and that this is related both to their lower levels of serum transferrin and to other unidentified pro-o xidising effects of CFS, (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc, All rights reserved .