Intra- and Extra-cellular Thiol-Disulfide Homeostasis in Blood of Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder

Abstract

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is the loss of a person's quality of life due to increased alcohol consumption and the failure of alcohol consumption control. In this study, the intra- and extracellular thiol-disulfide levels in people with AUD were compared with age-matched healthy controls. Forty male patients diagnosed with AUD and thirty healthy male individuals were included in the study. In addition to psychiatric and sociodemographic tests routine biochemical evaluations have been performed. The alcohol group had significantly higher Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) scores compared to the control group. While there was a decrease in the intracellular GSH and extracellular native thiol levels in the blood of the alcohol group, GSSG and disulfide levels were increased, respectively. Subsequently, while there was an increase in the intracellular GSSG/GSH content levels in the alcohol group compared to the control group, the ratios of GSH/GSH+GSSG were decreased. These changes, indicative of oxidative stress, were observed both in blood serum and erythrocytes. Also, there was an increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) mean corpuscular volume (MCV), C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in the alcohol group in routine biochemical tests, while total protein, folic acid, ferritin and hemoglobin (HGB) levels were decreased. Our results suggest that increased intra- and extracellular GSSG/GSH % (disulfide/native thiol %) may serve as an indicator of developing oxidative stress in individuals with AUD.