DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i06.026

Pages: 2171-2174

Oxidant mediated biomolecular damage including lipid peroxidation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of series of health related complications including essential hypertension (HT). Antioxidants provide protection from these free radicals in an effective manner but under pathophysiological condition these antioxidant level changes leading to disease development. The present study was carried out to estimate the levels of plasma ascorbic acid, an aqueous medium containing non-enzymic antioxidant and malondialdehyde (marker of lipid peroxidation) in Hypertensive subjects of different grades as per JNC 7th norms. In the present study, plasma ascorbic acid levels and malondialdehyde levels were measured in 120 hypertensive subjects (30-60 years), categorized into three groups as prehypertension, Stage I HT and Stage II HT, depending upon their blood pressure and statistically compared it with that of 40 healthy individual, served as control. Plasma ascorbate level was found to be significantly low in each patient group as compared to control (P < 0.001) and whereas malondialdehyde levels were increased significantly each patient group as compared to control (P < 0.001) and with subsequent increase in blood pressure. Plasma ascorbate levels were also low among three groups of essential hypertension. These findings suggest that plasma ascorbate is consumed in scavenging free radical to reduce oxidative stress mediated destructions with subsequent rise in blood pressure as characterized by increased production of malondialdehyde. Therefore, regular monitoring of oxidative stress markers should be encouraged along with consumption of diet rich in vitamin C and development of light physical exercise habit with increase in blood pressure.