Usefulness of antioxidant drugs in bronchial asthma

Bronchial asthma is a clinical syndrome with possible correlation to oxidative stress, therefore the effectiveness of some antioxidant drugs has been studied in management of chronic bronchial asthma. Methods: This study was carried out in the Al- Kadhimia Teaching Hospital between December 2008 to May 2009 on 56 patients of both sexes who were randomly allocated to 7 groups, plus 10 healthy volunteers as control group. Each group was given one of the following drugs: vitamin E, vitamin C, combination of vitamin E and C, selenium, zinc, allopurinol and garlic oil, in addition to their classical treatment of asthma and their pulmonary function tests were conducted as well as measuring the levels of serum zinc, calcium, and malondialdehyde (MDA) before and after treatment. Results: All asthmatic patients were suffering from oxidative stress and this was detected by measuring the level of serum MDA which was 2-3 folds more than the control group, and all antioxidants except allopurinol showed a beneficial effect of different degrees in the pulmonary function tests accompanied with clinical improvement of patients' condition and marked decrease in the number of daily attacks. Antioxidants can compensate the oxidative stress that correlates with asthma, can reduce the symptoms of asthma, and improve pulmonary functions. (author)