Antioxidant status of blood plasma of acutely psychotic patients and its correlation with Nrf2 activation

Objective To study the correlation between the blood plasma antioxidant profile and the transcriptional activity of the Nrf2 gene in acute psychosis in patients with schizophrenia and alcoholism. Material and methods The study included 40 patients with the first episode of the paranoid form of schizophrenia, 33 patients with schizophrenic psychosis who had previously received therapy, 22 patients with first-time acute alcohol psychosis, and 25 healthy volunteers. The level of Nrf2 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells was estimated by flow cytometry, and the antioxidant profile of blood plasma was estimated with chemiluminometry. Results The total and «thiol» antioxidant capacity were reduced in patients with initially diagnosed schizophrenic psychosis and alcoholic psychosis. In patients after treatment, the total antioxidant capacity was higher compared to previously untreated patients. The level of Nrf2 protein in mononuclear cells in patients with the first psychotic episode was significantly lower than in patients with alcoholism and lower than in the control group. In patients with alcoholic psychosis, Nrf2 level was correlated with both the total antioxidant capacity due to uric acid and the «thiol» antioxidant capacity; in patients with psychosis in schizophrenia, Nrf2 level was correlated only with the «thiol» antioxidant capacity. Conclusions The correlation between the total and «thiol» antioxidant capacity and the level of Nrf2 in mononuclear cells of patients with alcohol delirium indicates the undamaged state of the regulation. The absence of a correlation between the total antioxidant capacity and the level of Nrf2 in patients with schizophrenia indicates a disturbance of the activation of the Nrf2 pathway due to, possibly, a part associated with the participation of uric acid.