Vagal System Impairment in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Positive Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C: Does Hepatic Glutathione Deficiency Have a Pathogenetic Role?

Background: Both an autonomic impairment and a systemic depletion of reduced glutathione (GSH) may be documented in patients with chronic liver diseases and in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients. Methods: The coefficients of electrocardiographic R-R interval variation (CVc) were as...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scandinavian journal of gastroenterology 1997, Vol.32 (12), p.1261-1266
Main Authors: Barbaro, G., Lorenzo, G. Di, Soldini, M., Bellomo, G., Belloni, G., Grisorio, B., Barbarini, G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Autonomic system
Biological and medical sciences
chronic hepatitis C
Electrocardiography
Erythrocytes - chemistry
Erythrocytes - metabolism
Female
Glutathione - deficiency
Hepatitis C - complications
hepatitis C virus
Hepatitis, Chronic - complications
HIV Infections - complications
human immunodeficiency virus
Human viral diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Leukocytes, Mononuclear - metabolism
Liver - metabolism
Male
Malondialdehyde - analysis
Medical sciences
Neural Conduction - physiology
Peripheral Nervous System Diseases - etiology
R-R interval variation
reduced glutathione
Vagus Nerve - physiopathology
Viral diseases
Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background: Both an autonomic impairment and a systemic depletion of reduced glutathione (GSH) may be documented in patients with chronic liver diseases and in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients. Methods: The coefficients of electrocardiographic R-R interval variation (CVc) were assessed in 125 patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) (65 HIV-positive and 60 HIV-negative) and in 61 healthy controls. The CVc values were correlated with hepatic (H-GSH), plasmatic (P-GSH), lymphocyte (L-GSH), and erythrocyte (E-GSH) concentrations of GSH and with erythrocyte malonyldialdehyde (MDA) levels. Results: Compared with healthy controls, in CHC patients the concentrations of H-GSH, P-GSH, L-GSH, and E-GSH were reduced, whereas MDA levels were increased with a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001). CVc was significantly reduced in patients with CHC (especially in those who were HIV-positive) and correlated significantly with the values of H-GSH, P-GSH, L-GSH, E-GSH, and MDA (P < 0.001). Conclusions: A dysfunction of the cardiac vagal system may be detected in patients with CHC (especially in those who are HIV-positive); this abnormality may be related to a reduced response to oxidative stress because of a systemic depletion of GSH.
ISSN:0036-5521
1502-7708
DOI:10.3109/00365529709028157