The International Tinnitus Journal

The Role of Free Radicals and Plasmatic Antioxidant in Meniere's Syndrome

Author(s): Giorgio Raponi,t Dario Alpini, Stefania Volonte, Saverio Capobianco, and Antonio Cesaranis

The objective of this study was verification, through suitable hematochemical tests, of the supposition that central-systemic microtoxicosis plays a role either in the etiopathogenesis of Meniere's syndrome or in labyrinthine pathological processes or hypoacusis. We did not, therefore, exclude other well-known hypotheses in the causality of these pathologies. Nonetheless , one finds, particularly in the Meniere's cases, a constant homogeneous distribution of the metabolic products of this microtoxicosis, such as a high concentration of free radicals and low natural defenses (e.g., antioxidant plasmatic capacity). Therefore, there exists a kind of dangerous central and systemic presence of reactive molecules, aimed toward the polyunsaturated fatty acids and homeostatic complex enzymes, that is not compensated for by the natural antioxidant defense. The presence of this lack of balance, verified by suitable tests, has shown the rationality of use of a product made from reduced glutathione, thioctic acid , cysteine, and other antioxidants as a multipurpose antidote to this element of etiopathogenesis. Patients were divided into three groups (control, conventional therapy, and antioxidant treatment), and those in the antioxidant treatment group, especially those with Meniere's syndrome, demonstrated a net and more significant improvement. Also, parallel clinical and instrument evaluations of this new therapeutic solution, the efficacy of which has already been positively demonstrated, are expected to provide further evidence to support the primary hypothesis.

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