The present work was designed to study the influence of therapy with recombinant growth hormone on the oxygen and antioxidant blood status in the children presenting with somatotrophic insufficiency. A total of 11 children (2 girls and 9 boys) at the age from 3 to 9 years with confirmed somatotrophic insufficiency were available for the observation. They had never before been treated with growth hormone preparations. The blood oxyhemoglobin level and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity increased within 3 months after the onset of therapy. There is direct correlation between oxyhemoglobin levels and SDS for the growth rate (r= 0.64; p<0.05) and negative correlation between mean hemoglobin content in erythrocytes (MHCE) and SDS for the growth rate (r=-0.69), p<0.05). The results of the study suggest the close relationship between the system of growth hormone/growth factors and the morphofunctional state of erythrocytes. It is concluded that the short-term treatment of the children suffering somatotrophic insufficiency with recombinant growth hormone appears to promote the development of adaptive mechanisms.

The state of the blood antioxidant system in the patients presenting with acromegaly. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the total antioxidant activity (TAA) of blood plasma, the levels of non-protein thiols and 2-thyobarbituric acid-active products (TBA-AP), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities as well as ceruloplasmin (CP) level in the patients presenting with acromegaly. It was shown that plasma TAA and SOD activity in this patients was on the average 20 and 30% lower respectively than in the control subjects. At the same time, the TBA-AP and CP levels increased by 50 and 40% respectively. These data suggest the development of oxidative stress in the acromegalic patients.