ANTIOXIDANT STATUS IN VITILIGO
Objective: In order to evaluate whether vitiligo is associated with a systemic oxidative stress or not, we measured Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) in lesional, perilesional and distant skin in vitiligo patients to be compared with each other and with healthy individuals. Methods: This case control study was performed on twenty vitiligo patients and fifteen healthy individuals. A 4 mm tissue biopsy was collected from lesional, perilsesional areas and distant normal skin of vitiligo patients and from the skin of the healthy individuals to estimate the levels of PON-1 using ELISA.Results: Paraoxonase-1 levels in biopsies taken from lesional, perilesional, distant normal skin of patients and from the control group show a statistically significant difference (P<0.001) with the highest levels detected in the control group and the lowest levels detected in the lesional patches. Additionally, there were significant lower levels of PON-1 in lesional skin compared with both perilesional biopsies and distant normal skin, and significant lower levels of PON-1 in perilesional biopsies compared with distant normal skin (P<0.001).Conclusion: The current study could add further proof to the postulated role of the oxidant/antioxidant misbalance observed in vitiligo. Adding antioxidants in the management of vitiligo could prevent further progression of the disease.