Oxidative stress in follicular units during hair transplantation surgery

Research on the Balance of Thiol-Disulfide in Blood Serum in Women with Telogen Effluvium

Backgrounds

Telogen effluvium (TE) is the most common reason for hair loss in humans. Although the exact etiopathogenesis of TE has not been revealed clearly and completely, multifactorial etiologies are to be blamed. In recent years, since oxidative stress (OS) has been shown to play an important role in the etiopathogenesis of so many diseases, the effects of OS on several skin diseases are researched and analyzed. Thiols are antioxidant components that include sulfur group, and the balance of thiol-disulfide has an important role in the formation and prevention of OS. This balance is destroyed in many diseases and its effect on TE is not clearly understood yet.

Objectives

In this study, we aimed to search the thiol-disulfide balance that could reveal OS in patients with TE.

Materials and Methods

Fifty-two patients with TE and control group of 46 persons were included in the study. Native thiol, disulfide, and total thiol levels were evaluated by a new, automatic spectrophotometric method. Disulfide/native thiol, disulfide/total thiol, and native thiol/total thiol rates were calculated.

Results

There was no statistical difference between TE patients and control group in terms of native thiol, disulfide, and total thiol levels. Thiol-disulfide balance was fixed and not affected in TE patients.

The influence of preservation solution on the viability of grafts in hair transplantation surgery

Summary:

Hair transplantation techniques have changed in the last decades. Partial longitudinal follicular unit transplantation is a new hair transplantation technique, which differs from all other hair transplantation techniques by the size of the graft and therefore much more vulnerable grafts compared to the conventional hair transplantation grafts. In this study, we reveal the influence of the preservation solution on the viability of the grafts. We have extracted 15 hair transplantation grafts of 0.6 mm and 15 hair transplantation grafts of 0.7 mm from 3 different patients and investigated the influence of 2 commercially available preservation media, saline solution (Braun, Melsungen, Germany) and Ringer’s lactate (Braun), on the viability of grafts and compared these solutions with the preservation solution developed by Hair Science Institute with trypan blue. The grafts stored in the preservation solution developed by Hair Science Institute showed a significant better viability compared with the 2 commercially available preservation media saline solution and Ringer’s lactate. This study shows that a preservation solution could influence the viability of the grafts which could be essential for hair transplantations with small grafts such as in partial longitudinal follicular unit transplantation.

Inflammatory and oxidative stress after surgery for the small area corrections of burn sequelae

PURPOSE

To compare vitamin levels, inflammatory and oxidative stress markers before and after skin autograft surgery to correct burn scar areas.

METHODS

This prospective study was conducted with 8 patients with a median age of 28 years (range, 16 to 40 years) that had burn sequelae and were admitted to a Burn Unit for correction of small burn scar areas [3.3 (1.0-5.0) % of the corporal surface]. The volunteers were evaluated before and 48 hours after excision of scar tissue and skin autograft. Routine laboratory data, along with a food questionnaire and anthropometry were collected in the preoperative period. Serum vitamin A, C, E, B(12) and folic acid levels, inflammatory markers (C-protein reactive, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, ferritin) and oxidative stress markers (reduced glutathione - GSH and Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances - TBARS) were determined at preoperative and postoperative phases. Data were analyzed with two-sample Wilcoxon test.

RESULTS

All volunteers were clinically stable and had adequate nutritional status at admission. After surgery, C-reactive protein serum levels increased [0.4 (0.01-1.0) vs. 2.5 (0.6-4.7) mg/dL, p=0.01] and vitamin A levels decreased [3.4 (2.1-4.2) vs. 2.4 (1.6-4.1) µmol/L, p=0.01]. No changes occurred in other vitamins, ferrritin, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, GSH and TBARS levels.

CONCLUSION

Minimal metabolic changes were produced after skin autograft in small areas of well-nourished patients without active infection or inflammation.