Monitoring free radicals by the erythrocyte fragility test

Objective

Free radicals are known to peroxidise fat in the erythrocyte membrane. This may make erythrocytes more fragile to stress by high oxygen tension in the air. The objective of the present study was to see, if the erythrocyte fragility test (ery-frag) can be used as an assay of in vivo free radical status.

Materials and methods

Three different studies will be presented.

1. Vegetarian food. n = 36. t = 6 months. Controls: n = 36.
2. Electrical hypersensitivity (ES). Tolerance test. n = 18. t = 10 days. Controls: n = 10.8OHdG and MDA assays used as reference.
3. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Treatment by broad-spectrum, high-dose antioxidants, combined with pulsed magnetic fields. n = 34. t = 2 months. The patients were their own controls, no systematic improvement expected.

Results

1. After six months of vegetarian lunch ery-frag was diminished with no change in the control group.
2. ES patients reacted to exposure by an increase in symptoms and in ery-frag, 8OHdG and MDA. No change in the controls.
3. Patients improved clinically as well as in ery-frag.

Conclusion

Assay of erythrocyte-fragility is a simple and very sensitive test for diagnosing a free radical problem and for monitoring the effect of treatment.