G-6-PD level and surface nanoscopy: a novel approach in ergonomic stress management of female labours in Bengal suburbs performing manual material handling.

Strenous physical exercise like professional load bearing often produces oxidative stress, increasing post exercise Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. To quantify the cellular dimension/profile of the said stress, nanoscopic observation of the erythrocyte surface was made by Atomic Forced Microscopy (AFM)/Lateral Forced Microscopy (LFM) and correspondingly the average roughness of the surface was measured. An attempt has been made to correlate the antioxidant vitamin mixture supplementation, endurance capacity, allied physiological parameters and blood glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) level and roughness-MDA correlation and thereby the deduced regression equation as crucial markers of performance related oxidative stress management in professional female load bearers. Three experimental groups A, B and placebo, each consisting of ten female workers (18-21 years old), were chosen. Group A was given 400 mg of vitamin E supplementation daily, while Group B was given a clinical mixture of vitamin E, vitamin C and beta-carotene daily in capsular form for a period of 28 days. The exercise- induced hike in the status of serum MDA was found to rise less significantly with vitamin supplementation. Further study showed that the supplementation was instrumental in reducing the basal MDA level. Endurance capacity, determined by bicycle ergometric method, was increased more significantly (p < 0.001) in group B than in group A (p < 0.01), and first minute recovery heart rate decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in both groups. G-6-PD level was shown to increase more significantly (p < 0.01) with antioxidant vitamin mixture supplementation than with vitamin E supplementation singly (p < 0.05) in professional female load bearers. The regression equation might be instrumental in early detection of oxidative damage in strenuous exercise in manual material handling.