Antioxidants and lipid peroxidation in gestational diabetes--a preliminary study

Increased free radical activity in gestational diabetes (GDM) can lead to a host of damaging and degenerative maternal and fetal complications. Hence antioxidant levels in blood of GDM mothers and cord blood were estimated. Erythrocyte glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), plasma vitamins C and E and serum total glutathione-S-transferase (GST), protein thiols and ceruloplasmin (Cp) were estimated spectrophotometrically in maternal blood of age matched controls and mothers with GDM and also in cord blood samples of the above. There was a significant increase in the erythrocytic GSH, serum total GST and protein thiols in GDM maternal blood when compared to controls whereas erythrocytic SOD exhibited a marked decrease in GDM cases. The changes in plasma vitamins C and E, Cp and erythrocytic TBARS in GDM were not significantly different from controls. Cord blood levels of protein thiols were also significantly increased in GDM. No significant changes were observed in the serum Cp and GST levels of the same. Hence, elevated glucose levels can induce oxidative stress in GDM mothers.