Methyl glyoxal elevation is associated with oxidative stress in rheumatoid arthritis.

Methyl glyoxal (MG), a metabolic hazard plays a role in pathogenesis of different diseases. We studied the role of MG in cellular oxidative and carbonyl stress in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). 148 RA patients were divided into subgroups according to disease severity, RA factor status and age. They were acute, remission, seropositive, seronegative and JRA group. About 88 normal, young, healthy individuals were taken as control. We estimated serum level of total antioxidant status (TAS), total thiol, GSH, MG, carbonyl compounds and TBARS level of normal control and RA. The synovial fluid (SF) level of above parameters have been also evaluated in RA. Our observation suggests that MG elevation is associated with increased level of TBARS and decreased level of GSH in all RA subgroups than normal control. The elevation of MG along with declination of GSH and antioxidant status may be associated with free radical damage in RA.