Oxidative stress as a biomarker of respiratory disturbance in patients with severe motor and intellectual disabilities

Oxidative stress plays an important role in aging and various diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and bronchial asthma. However, little is known about a potential role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of severe motor and intellectual disabilities (SMID) in terms of respiratory disturbance, which is the most common complication. In the present study, we examined the urinary levels of oxidative stress markers, 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), hexanoyl-lysine adduct (HEL) and acrolein-lysine adduct (ACR) in patients with SMID. The mean level of urinary 8-OHdG in SMID patients was significantly higher than that in normal controls (18.8 ± 9.0 ng/mg Cre and 10.5 ± 2.9 ng/mg Cre, respectively) (p < 0.01). There was no significant difference of the mean level of urinary HEL between patients with SMID and normal controls (81.9 ± 40.3 pmol/mg Cre and 69.2 ± 37.7 pmol/mg Cre, respectively), while the mean level of ACR in patients with SMID was higher than that of normal controls (220.5 ± 118.6 nmol/mg Cre and 144.9 ± 62.0 nmol/mg Cre, respectively) (p < 0.05). In addition, the level of 8-OHdG was strongly correlated with the severity of respiratory disturbance evaluated as the respiratory disturbance score (RDS) (Spearman r = 0.73, n = 14, p < 0.01). In contrast, there was no correlation between the levels of these oxidative stress markers and age or medication of antiepileptic drugs. These results suggest that urinary 8-OHdG is a potentially useful biomarker for evaluating the severity of respiratory failure in patients with SMID.