A study of free radicals and scavenging enzyme in tonsillitis.

Abstract

The present study is a comparison of malonaldialdehyde (MDA) level and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity between controls and in tonsillitis patients of different degree before (pre) and after (post) surgery (tonsillectomy). The SOD activity increases in pretonsillectomy cases according to severity of disease and there is a rise in MDA level whereas after tonsillectomy although the increase in SOD is marginal but MDA declines sharply as compared to pretonsillectomy patients indicating that the SOD exerts its protective effect after surgery.