Malondialdehyde and Reduced Glutathione in Neonatal seizures

Seizures in neonates and young infants present a frequent diagnostic challenge. Incidence in the newborn baby is 1.5-3.5 per 1000 live term births, 10-130 per 1000 live preterm births. After exclusion of acquired causes, disturbances of the internal homeostasis and brain malformations, the physician must evaluate for inborn errors of metabolism and for other non-malformative genetic disorders as the cause of seizures. Reactive oxygen species have been implicated in the development of seizures under pathological conditions and linked to seizure-induced neuro degeneration. There has been little direct evidence, however, of free radical production resulting from the seizures. The concentration of free radical induced lipid peroxidation (Malondialdehyde) has shown to increase in seizures. Antioxidants (glutathione) prevented the rise in lipid peroxidase but did not arrest the development of seizures. Institutional Ethics Committee permission was obtained for carrying out this study. Total of 60 subjects were included in this study and after obtaining written consent, 1 ml of venous blood was collected and used for the estimation of reduced glutathione and Malondialdehyde using spectrophotometric method. Inclusion criteria for cases- neonates having seizures and inclusion criteria for controls-age matched healthy volunteers.