Impact of the Use of Benznidazole Followed by Antioxidant Supplementation in the Prevalence of Ventricular Arrhythmias in Patients With Chronic Chagas Disease: Pilot Study.

Patients with chronic Chagas disease have a higher prevalence of premature ventricular contraction (PVC) because of immunoinflammatory response magnified by the increased oxidative stress. Thus, the sequential treatment with benznidazole (BZN) and antioxidants can reduce the prevalence of PVC. We wish to establish whether the etiological treatment of Chagas disease followed by supplementation with the antioxidant vitamins E and C decreases the prevalence of PVC in these patients.

Carvedilol enhances the antioxidant effect of vitamins E and C in chronic Chagas heart disease.

Background: Chagas disease is still an important endemic disease in Brazil, and the cardiac involvement is its more severe manifestation.

Objective: To verify whether the concomitant use of carvedilol will enhance the antioxidant effect of vitamins E and C in reducing the systemic oxidative stress in chronic Chagas heart disease.

Methods: A total of 42 patients with Chagas heart disease were studied.

N-acetylcysteine and deferrioxamine protects against acute renal failure induced by ischemia/reperfusion in rats.

Objective: Antioxidants are widely used in animal models to prevent renal injury after ischemia/reperfusion, but it is unknown if the benefits of antioxidants are additive. In this study, we aimed to investigate the protective effects of N-acetylcysteine plus deferoxamine in an animal model of kidney ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Methods: Bilateral kidney ischemia was mastintained for 45 minutes.

Antioxidant supplementation attenuates oxidative stress in chronic hepatitis C patients.

Unlabelled: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) overgeneration is involved in the pathogenesis of hepatitis C. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant status in the blood of HCV infected patients treated or not with standard therapy before and after supplementation of vitamins E, C and zinc. Biomarkers of oxidative stress were evaluated in the blood of three groups of patients: group 1 - controls; group 2 - HCV patients without treatment examined before and after a daily antioxidant supplementation (vitamin E 800 mg, C 500 mg and zinc 40 mg) for 6 months; and group 3 - HCV patients treated with pegylated interferon combined with ribavirin, also examined before and after the same antioxidant supplementation.

Carvedilol attenuates oxidative stress in chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy.

Background: There is increasing evidence suggesting that Chagas disease involves oxidative damage and contributes to heart disease progression.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of carvedilol on oxidative stress markers in chronic Chagas disease.

Methods: The study population included 42 patients with Chagas cardiomyopathy and oxidative stress biomarkers were measured before and after a period of six months of treatment with carvedilol (37.

Antioxidant effects of mycophenolate mofetil in a murine pleurisy model.

Generation of oxidative stress induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitrogen (RNS) is believed to be a primary factor in the etiology of various inflammatory diseases. Although, the process of generation of oxygen species is a physiological event, in the inflammatory process this event is increased and produces large amounts of reactive species that leads to lipid peroxidation and to cell death. Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is a drug effective in protecting against chronic allograft failure and recently was introduced as an alternative for the treatment of various inflammatory diseases such as glomerulopathies, systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic vasculitis.

Antioxidant therapy attenuates oxidative insult caused by benzonidazole in chronic Chagas' heart disease.

Chronic chagasic cardiac patients are exposed to oxidative stress that apparently contributes to disease progression. Benznidazole (BZN) is the main drug used for the treatment of chagasic patients and its action involves the generation of reactive species. 41 patients with Chagas' heart disease were selected and biomarkers of oxidative stress were measured before and after 2 months of BZN treatment (5 mg/kg/day) and the subsequent antioxidant supplementation with vitamin E (800 UI/day) and C (500 mg/day) during 6 months.

Antioxidant effects of selegiline in oxidative stress induced by iron neonatal treatment in rats.

Increased levels of iron in specific brain regions have been reported in neurodegenerative disorders. It has been postulated that iron exerts its deleterious effects on the nervous system by inducing oxidative damage. In a previous study, we have shown that iron administered during a particular period of the neonatal life induces oxidative damage in brain regions in adult rats.

Reversion of age-related recognition memory impairment by iron chelation in rats.

It is now generally accepted that iron accumulates in the brain during the ageing process. Increasing evidence demonstrate that iron accumulation in selective regions of the brain may generate free radicals, thereby possessing implications for the etiology of neurodegenerative disorders. In a previous study we have reported that aged rats present recognition memory deficits.