Markers of oxidative stress during phototherapy of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia

Excessive jaundice in newborn infants may cause brain damage. Jaundice is caused by high level of bilirubin in the blood (hyperbilirubinaemia) and tissues. Maintaining serum unconjugated bilirubin concentrations within normal accepted range in infants can be obtained by the use of phototherapy. Phototherapy in neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia raises several controversial issues. Some studies indicate that photo-therapy is preferably safe and efficient method for all neonates with hyperbilirubinaemia, while the others clamed that blue light in fractions at high dose rate has tendency towards inducing necrosis as well as apoptosis in exposed cells.It has been shown that irradiation of bilirubin results in the generation of hydrogen peroxide and possibly other peroxides that can cause damage to DNA. Thus, phototherapy can induce oxidative stress by the generation reactive oxygen species (ROS). These active radicals can denature proteins and initiate lipid peroxidation. So despite the essential role of phototherapy in the treatment of hyper-bilirubinemia it has its drawbacks. The aim of this study was to estimate if we can consider phototherapy as a trigger factor for oxidative stress