Lack of correlation of paraoxonase (PON1) activity with smoking among the South Indians and risk of cardiovascular disease.

3 Abstract: paraoxonase is an antioxidant enzyme associated with HDL. Anti atherogenic properties of HDL are attributed to this Enzyme. We determined the PON1 activity of 288 young individuals in the age group of 20 to 39 years of both sexes. The PON1 activity was measured as aryl esterase using phenyl acetate as substrate. PON1 did not correlate with age, sex or even smoking. The PON1 activity was negatively skewed. Our results suggest that PON activities even in the young individuals are already sufficiently modified so that smoking does not affect the activity further.