الملخص

Objective: To assess the effect of interferon–beta on oxidative stress and total antioxidant status in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Design: Case-control study. Setting: College of Medicine and Ibn-Sina Teaching Hospital, Mosul. Methodology: The study included 40 female patients with MS. They divided into 2 groups of 20 patients each. Group one included newly diagnosed MS patients and group 2 with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) in remission phase, who were on interferon therapy. Another twenty apparently healthy females, age matched with the patients, were considered as a control. Malondyaldehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant status (TAS) were measured in all groups. Results: MDA values of both patients groups (1.48±0.59 µmol/l and 1.00±0.49 µmol/l, respectively), were significantly higher than those of the control group (0.60±0.18 µmol/l) (p