Background: Epilepsy is the most common neurological disease of childhood and adolescence. Methylglyoxal, an endogenous byproduct of glucose metabolism and a reactive carbonyl species, is a novel inhibitor of epileptic seizures. Methylglyoxal is metabolized by the enzyme glyoxalase 1. We aimed to investigate serum glyoxalase 1 levels between a group of newly diagnosed pediatric epilepsy patients and a healthy control group.
Material and Method: A total of 34 children from both sexes, aged between 1 and 17 years with newly diagnosed epilepsy and 21 healthy controls were included in the study irrespective of the epilepsy subtype. Informed consent was obtained from parents or guardians of all patients before initiation of the study. 5 cc venous blood sample was collected from each patient into plain biochemistry tubes under sterile conditions. Glyoxalase 1 levels were measured using ELISA methodology.
Results: Comparison of the gender distribution of 34 pediatric patients and 21 healthy controls showed that 61.8% of the epileptic patients were boys and 38.2% were girls. Control group included 66.7% males and 33.3% females. Body mass index (BMI) comparison of both groups showed a BMI of 23.38±9.66kg/m² (mean± SD) among epileptic patients and 20.31±3.94kg/m² (mean± SD) in healthy controls, with no statistically significant difference between groups (p=0.10). Comparison of serum glyoxalase 1 levels between groups showed a mean glyoxalase 1 level of 31.51ng/ml (2.08-132.68, min-max) in epileptic patients and 19.25ng/ml (11.74-87.97 ng/ml, min-max) in healthy controls. There was a statistically significant difference between glyoxalase 1levels of the study groups (p= 0.02).
Conclusion: The study groups did not show any significant difference in gender, BMI and age. However, serum glyoxalase 1levels were statistically significantly different between the groups. Based on our findings, we concluded that there is a positive correlation between serum glyoxalase 1 levels and epilepsy. We humbly hope that our results might contribute to current literature for future development of new treatment strategies for epilepsy patients using glyoxalase 1 inhibitors.
Author(s): Benlier N, Ãzer G, Almacioglu M, Yildirim Z