Bronchial asthma is a clinical syndrome with recurrent episode of wheezing, chest tightness, and cough.
It is now well established that in asthma, oxidative stress is greatly increased as a consequence of the inflammatory process and exposure to exogenous oxidant substances, and under these circumstances a state of uncompensated oxidative stress may ensue and that contributes to tissue injury and asthma symptomatology. Modulation of oxidative stress may contribute significantly to the amelioration of asthmatic symptomatology. Aim of the study: In this study, the effectiveness of some antioxidants have been studied in
management of chronic bronchial asthma.The tested agents were used alone or in combination in order to increase the pharmacological efficacy. Subjects and methods: The current study was carried out on: 56 patients of both sex, with chronic bronchial asthma plus 10 healthy volunteers as control group. All the patients were visited the outpatient clinic of AL-Zahraa general hospital-Kut city, at the period between December 2006 to May 2007. the patients were randomly divided into 7 groups (each group contain eight
patients) patients ages ranging from 17 to 68 years (mean ± SD, 37.66 ± 15.16), while Control group involved 10 healthy volunteers, 5 men and 5 women, their ages ranging from 22 to 52 years (mean ± SD, 34.44 ± 8.42). The patients were given allopurinol, selenium, zinc, garlic, vitamin E, vitamin C and combination of both. Pulmonary function tests have been conducted as well as measuring the levels of serum zinc, Calcium, and MDA, before and after two weeks of treatment with antioxidants. Results: In the current study all asthmatic patients suffered from oxidative stress and this detected by measuring the level of serum malondialdehyde MDA, and it was 2-3 folds more than its level in the control group. Each drug used reduce the level of serum MDA in a certain value, Allopurinol by 20.5% selenium by 17.9%, zinc by 26.3%, garlic by 19.9%, vitamin E 24.2%, by vitamin C by 23.7%, and the combination of vitamin E & C by 28.7%. Also the responses were differ from drug to another, all antioxidants except Allopurinol, showed a beneficial effect in a different degree detected by measuring the changes in the pulmonary functions test (PFT) using a computerized spirometer. In group 1,Allopurinol used in dose 300mg, group 2, Selenium in dose of 400 μg, while in group 3, 440 mg of zinc (as zinc sulphate) was used, group 4, garlic oil in a dose of 2.5 mg, group 5, Vitamin E was used in dose of 400 I.U, group 6, vitamin C was given in dose of 1000 mg and in the last group, combination of two drugs vitamin E(400 I.U) with vitamin C(1000 mg). Patients’ clinical condition generally improved in all groups (except Allopurinol group). Also these drugs had no significant effect on the serum calcium or serum zinc level, but when zinc sulphate used, the serum zinc increased from 64.12 μg /dl before treatment to 84.50 μg /dl after treatment. Regular intake of antioxidants can compensate the oxidative stress, reduce the symptoms of asthma and improve the pulmonary functions. Combination of vitamin C with vitamin E produced an excellent response in most patients, but Allopurinol has no significant effect in controlling the symptoms of asthma. All the antioxidants had no significant effect on serum calcium or serum zinc, except zinc sulphate, which increase the serum zinc level significantly, but within acceptable limits.