PMID: 16633995Apr 25, 2006Paper

Antioxidants, carnitine and erythropoietin

Giornale italiano di nefrologia : organo ufficiale della Società italiana di nefrologia
Lorenzo A CalòElisa Pagnin

Abstract

Patients with renal disease possess an excess of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, which predispose these patients to a high rate of morbidity and mortality due to CV disease. Oxidative stress and oxidative stress induced apoptosis play an important role not only in the pathophysiology and progression of renal disease, but also in the induction of myocardial damage and heart failure with important implications concerning CV morbidity and mortality in general, and particularly for patients with renal disease. This has stimulated the realization of studies aimed at evaluating therapies with antioxidants, given the evidence that patients with renal disease and heart failure have an imbalance towards pro-oxidant factors. The correction of anemia with erythropoetin (EPO) is another important aspect related to oxidative stress and apoptosis, which has also revealed positive effects for the improvement in heart failure. EPO cellular mechanisms are not completely known, and the identification of close biochemical and molecular relationships between EPO and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), which has potent antioxidant and anti-apoptotic properties, could provide the rationale for the beneficial effect of carnitine having been shown to possess a...Continue Reading

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