Abstract
CONTEXT: Oxidative products take part in various physiological processes and overproduction of oxidative products is involved in the etiology of many diseases. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate thiol-disulfide homeostasis (TDH); one of the oxidative stress parameters, in girls with premature thelarche (PT) and precocious puberty (PP). DESIGN: This case-control study was conducted between January 2022 and July 2022. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: TDH parameters, involving native thiol (NT), disulfide, and total thiol (TT), were evaluated in 39 girls with PT, 41 girls with PP and 46 healthy prepubertal girls. The correlations of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), estradiol (E2) levels with the TDH parameters were determined and ROC curve analysis was performed. RESULTS: NT, TT and NT/TT ratio were higher in the PT and PP groups compared to the control group (p<0.01). Disulfide/NT ratio and disulfide/TT ratio were lower in the PT and PP groups compared to the control group (p<0.05). All the TDH values did not statistically differ between the PP and PT group (p>0.05). There was a positive correlation between LH level, FSH level, and NT level, TT level, NT/TT ratio. The best parameter to discriminate PT or PT and control groups were NT and TT (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: TDH is altered in girls with PT and PP. NT and TT levels can be useful to discriminate prepubertal girls with lipomastia and girls with PP and PT in clinical practice. Further studies on larger cohorts of patients are required to clarify our results.