Adenosine deaminase and xanthine oxidase activity levels in children with anxiety disorder

Year 2026, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 148 - 153, 20.02.2026

Serkan Kapancık , Elif Abanoz , Ahmet Ozan Kaleci

https://izlik.org/JA65BU86DB

Abstract

Aims: Anxiety disorders are quite common in children and adolescents. Affecting approximately 6.5% of children and adolescents, this disorder stems from a complex interplay of genetic predisposition and environmental risk factors. Since adenosine has a role in suppressing anxiety, increased adenosine degradation, followed by increased degradation of hypoxanthine and xanthine, and subsequently increased reactive oxygen species, which are associated with anxiety, may contribute to the biology of anxiety in children. Therefore, in our study, we aimed to investigate the activity levels of the adenosine degrading enzyme adenosine deaminase (ADA) and the hypoxanthine and xanthine degrading enzyme xanthine oxidase (XO) to determine whether changes in the activity of these two enzymes play a role in anxiety in children.
Methods: The study design was a cross-sectional case-control study. ADA and XO enzyme activity levels were spectrophotometrically analyzed in serum samples obtained from children with anxiety and children in the control group.
Results: ADA activity was measured as 22.12±2.51 U/L in children with anxiety, while this value was determined as 14.90±1.98 U/L in the control group (p<0.001). XO activity was found to be 5.38±0.86 U/L in children with anxiety and 4.24±0.62 U/L in the control group (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Because increased ADA activity levels lead to an imbalance in the purinergic signaling system, and increased XO activity leads to an increase in reactive oxygen species. may contribute to the development of anxiety in children.

Keywords

Anxiety disorder , adenosine deaminase , xanthine oxidase , enzyme activity

Ethical Statement

Before starting the research study, an ethical permission document dated 12.06.2025 and numbered 2025-06/97 was obtained from Sivas Cumhuriyet University Health Sciences Research Ethics Committe.

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