Introduction : Etiopathogenesis of seborrhoeic dermatitis remains unclear. Genetic, hormonal, environmental, infectious and immunological factors have been proved to contribute to the development of this disease. The authors decided to evaluate selected indices of oxygen metabolism in the active phase of the disease.
Material and methods : Sixty subjects were included in the study. They were 30 patients (14 females and 16 males) with seborrhoeic dermatitis and 30 healthy volunteers (23 females and 7 males), who made up the control group. The level of nitric oxide (NO) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of plasma as well as activity of superoxide dismutase (ZnCu-SOD) and malonyl dialdehyde (MDA) in erythrocytes of whole blood were determined.
Results : The increased level of NO and the increased activity of superoxide dismutase were observed only in the males from the study group in comparison with the males from the control group. In the females the differences between the subjects from the study and control group were not statistically significant. Similarly, there were no differences in terms of the level of MDA in erythrocytes and total antioxidant capacity in plasma between both the male and female patients and the control group subjects.
Conclusions: Observed disturbances of some parameters of prooxidative and antioxidative balance in the patients in the active phase of the disease may imply that reactive oxygen species play a role in etiopathogenesis of seborrhoeic dermatitis.