Effects of rhubarb on oxidative stress and microinflammation induced by intravenous iron in maintenance hemodialysis patients

Aim To investigate the effects of rhubarb against oxidative stress and microinflammation induced by intravenous iron in maintenance hemodialysis(MHD) patients.Methods Eighty MHD patients were randomly allocated to control group(A group) and treatment with rhubarb group(B group) with 40 patients in each groups.Patients in B group were administered with infused decotion of rhubarb for 8 weeks.The blood levels of malondialdehyde(MDA),superoxide dismutase(SOD),glutathione pemxidase(GSH-px) C-reactive protein(CRP),tumour necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),interleukin(IL)-1β and IL-10 were measured in two groups before and after the treatment.Results After treatment,the levels of SOD and GSH-px were lower in two groups than those before treatment(P 0.05 or 0.01,respectively),the levels of MDA,CRP,TNF-α and IL-1β in two groups were higher than those before treatment(P 0.05 or 0.01,respectively).Compared with A group,the levels of SOD and GSH-px were increased and MDA,CRP,TNF-α and IL-1β were decreased in B group after treatment(P 0.05 or 0.01,respectively).There were not significant differences of the levels of IL-10 between two groups.Conclusion Rhubarb alleviates oxidative stress and microinflammation induced by intravenous iron in MHD patients.