Alteration of Thiol-Disulfide Homeostasis in Fibromyalgia Syndrome.

BACKGROUND

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is an extra-articular rheumatological disease, characterized by widespread pain and somatic symptoms. The etiology has not yet been clarified. Oxidative stress may play an important role in FMS etiology. Thiol group is a very strong antioxidant. We aimed to investigate whether thiol/disulfide homeostasis in FMS is altered or not.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

A total of 80 female FMS patients and 64 healthy female control individuals were included in this study. Thiol and disulfide values were measured by Erel's novel methods.

RESULTS

Native thiol (330.6 ± 46.1 vs. 356.8 ± 55.5 μmol/L, p = 0.005) and native thiol/total thiol (89.4 ± 3.2 vs. 93.3 ± 4.0, p < 0.001) levels of FMS patients were significantly lower when compared to the values of control group. However, disulfide (19.4 ± 6.3 vs. 12.2 ± 6.3 μmol/L, p < 0.001) levels of FMS patients were significantly higher than healthy individuals. A negative correlation was found between the native thiol/total thiol and fibromyalgia impact questionnaire (FIQ) score among the FMS patients. A positive correlation was found between disulfide values and FIQ score among the patients.

CONCLUSIONS

In FMS patients, there was a significant correlation between the decrease in the thiol levels and an increase in the disulfide levels with the FIQ scores. We determined that thiol-disulfide rate was deteriorated in FMS patients and it increases in favor of disulfide amounts.