Table 4.
Cellular and plasmatic oxidative stress biomarkers and comparison between arms
| Placebo arm (n = 29) | NAC arm (n = 28) | P value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | Mean ± SD | n | Mean ± SD | ||
| O2 •‐, MFI | |||||
| Baseline | 27 | 398.0 ± 508.4 | 27 | 293.8 ± 263.9 | 0.7952 |
| 5 days | 23 | 286.8 ± 283.5 | 26 | 287.4 ± 250.1 | 0.3214 |
| 20 days | 23 | 240.4 ± 237.7 | 21 | 286.9 ± 411.4 | 0.7960 |
| H2O2, nmol H2O2/s (×10‐14) | |||||
| Baseline | 28 | 2.8 ± 2.2 | 28 | 2.1 ± 2.0 | 0.2041 |
| 5 days | 26 | 2.8 ± 2.3 | 27 | 2.3 ± 1.5 | 0.6889 |
| 20 days | 25 | 3.2 ± 6.6 | 24 | 2.3 ± 1.7 | 0.1971 |
| MDA, µM | |||||
| Baseline | 26 | 9.1 ± 5.4 | 28 | 11.7 ± 6.6 | 0.1191 |
| 5 days | 26 | 14.9 ± 8.1 | 28 | 13.9 ± 5.8 | 0.2989 |
| 20 days | 24 | 12.6 ± 5.6 | 25 | 13.2 ± 7.3 | 0.2420 |
| 8‐Isoprostane, pg/mL | |||||
| Baseline | 24 | 41.9 ± 34.1 | 26 | 62.2 ± 52.5 | 0.0875 |
| 5 days | 24 | 49.8 ± 28.6 | 26 | 62.0 ± 48.2 | 0.1772 |
| 20 days | 20 | 63.3 ± 93.9 | 21 | 39.0 ± 41.1 | 0.1087 |
| TAC, mM | |||||
| Baseline | 22 | 1.4 ± 0.4 | 26 | 1.4 ± 0.5 | 0.9670 |
| 5 days | 22 | 1.5 ± 0.5 | 26 | 1.6 ± 0.6 | 0.7250 |
| 20 days | 22 | 1.3 ± 0.4 | 23 | 1.4 ± 0.5 | 0.2708 |
Mann‐Whitney test. The comparison between the arms for 5 and 20 days was based on variation from baseline.
MDA: malondialdehyde, MFI: mean fluorescence intensity, n: absolute number of patients evaluated, NAC: acetylcysteine, SD: standard deviation, TAC: total antioxidant capacity.