OBJECTIVE: Oxygen free radical activity is elevated in diabetes mellitus and has been implicated in the etiology of vascular complications and diabetic nephropathy is a serious microvascular complication in patients with IDDM. Despite intensive investigation, the pathophysiology of diabetic renal disease has not been fully elucidated. However, several clinical and experimental studies have suggested that endothelial dysfunction and changes of peritubular microcirculation. I performed this study to examine the oxidative stress in IDDM patients with diabetic nephropathy. METHODS: Nine patients with IDDM (diabetic duration>5 years) and persistent albuminuria (albumin excretion<100mg/day) and 15 normal healthy controls were investigated prospectively for MDA (thiobarbituric acid assay), and antioxidant enzymes [SOD (Hyland et al.), catalase (Nelson and Kiesow), GPX (Palgia and Valentine)]. RESULTS: In RBC, levels of MDA were significantly higher in patients with diabetic nephropathy than in normal healthy controls and levels of antioxidant enzymes were significantly lower in patients with diabetic nephropathy than in normal healthy controls. In plasma, levels of MDA were significantly higher in patients with diabetic nephropathy than in normal healthy controls and levels of antioxidant enzymes except GPX were significantly lower in patients with diabetic nephropathy than in normal healthy controls. CONCLUSION: We conclude that increased oxidative stress and decreased antioxidative defense mechanism may be factors in the initiation of diabetic nephropathy.
Albuminuria ; Catalase ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 ; Diabetic Nephropathies* ; Humans ; Malondialdehyde* ; Microcirculation ; Oxidative Stress ; Oxygen ; Plasma ; Prospective Studies

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