Abstract

Aim. Pulmonary complications are known to occur in over half the patients exposed to sulphur mustard. Many studies have focused on the clinical complications, often ignoring the pathogenesis of sulphur mustard. Also, the reasons for the variable severity of lung injuries caused by sulphur mustard are unclear. Hence, the current study was performed to evaluate the correlation between superoxide dismutase ( SOD) and catalase ( CAT) activity and pulmonary function in patients exposed to sulphur mustard. Methods. Our study was a comparative cross-sectional survey. Two hundred and fifty incident survivors were selected from the Sardasht population who were exposed to sulphur mustard in 1987. A control group from non-exposed civilians was also selected. We used a pulmonary function test, and SOD and CAT activity was measured in these groups. Results. The mean SOD activity in the healthy control group (70.5 +/- 10.8 U ml(-1)) was higher than in the moderate-to-severe group (67.0 +/- 6.1 U ml(-1)) (p < 0.001, one-tail ANOVA, least significant difference (LSD) post hoc). The mean activity in the mild group (72.5 +/- 6.9 U ml(-1)) was no higher than in the healthy control group (70.5 +/- 10.8 U ml(-1)) (p=0.095 one-tail ANOVA, LSD post hoc). The mean CAT activity in the healthy control group (4.9 +/- 1.5 U ml(-1)) was lower than in the moderate-to-severe group (8.0 +/- 1.8 U ml(-1)) (p < 0.001, one-tail ANOVA, LSD post hoc) and in the mild group (7.5 +/- 1.5 U ml(-1)) (p=0.012 one-tail ANOVA, LSD post hoc). Conclusion. According to our findings, it is reasonable to hypothesize that re-establishment of the activation-inactivation or oxidant-antioxidant balance in favour of the activation and antioxidant balances would be useful as a therapeutic strategy to suppress pathological mechanisms underlying lung injuries.