Abstract:

Objective To investigate the relationship between the levels of L-arginine（L-Arg） and asymmetric dimethylarginine（ADMA） in asthma patients and L-Arg/ADMA ratio，as well as the mitochondrial function indicators [platelet mitochondrial membrane potential（MMP），adenosine triphosphate（ATP） and cytochrome C oxidase（COX）]. Methods Totally，122 patients with acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma（asthma group） and 44 healthy subjects（healthy control group） were enrolled from the Affiliated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Xinjiang Medical University from November 2016 to May 2017. The activities of MMP，ATP and COX，as well as the levels of plasma L-Arg and ADMA were determined，and the L-Arg/ADMA ratio was calculated. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlations among the various indicators. Results Compared with healthy control group，the levels of MMP，COX and plasma L-Arg，as well as the L-Arg/ADMA ratio in asthma group were decreased（P<0.05），while the ATP level was increased（P<0.05）. There was no statistical significance in plasma ADMA levels between the 2 groups（P>0.05）. Mitochondrial ATP was negatively correlated with plasma ADMA（r=-0.404，P<0.001），and it was positively correlated with the L-Arg/ADMA ratio（r=0.238，P=0.008）. Mitochondrial COX was negatively correlated with plasma ADMA（r=-0.269，P=0.003）. There was no correlation among the other indicators（P>0.05）. Conclusions The L-Arg level in asthma patients is abnormal，indicating a disorder in arginine metabolism，which is related to mitochondrial dysfunction.

Key words: L-arginine, Asymmetric dimethylarginine, Mitochondria, Asthma