ISSN:
1600-0714
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
The antioxidant status of an individual is thought to be important in the development of potentially malignant oral lesions (PMOL) and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). To date, little detailed information on mucosal antioxidant status is available in a United Kingdom population and neither has the relationship between smoking and mucosal antioxidant status been established. Furthermore, it has been implied that serum levels of antioxidants and tissue levels in the oral mucosa should be equivalent, but that is unproven. To address these deficiencies in our knowledge we studied 60 individuals, all of whom had an oral mucosal biopsy and simultaneous vanous blood sampling. Antioxidant levels were measured using high performance liquid chromatogaphy. Smokers (n=19) were found to have significantly lower levels of plasma β-carotene (P〈0.05) and significantly lower levels of tissue α-carotene (P〈0.05) than non-smokers (n=41). Tissue α-carotene correlated with plasma levels, but this was not the case with α-tocopherol, retinol, lycopene or β-carotene. This is the first data on oral mucosal antioxidant levels and provides baseline data from which to study patients with potentially malignant oral lesions and oral squamous cell carcinoma.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0714.1999.tb02054.x
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