Diabetes increases excretion of urinary malonaldehyde conjugates in rats

The effect of streptozotocin-induced diabetes on the urinary excretion of thiobarbituric acid test-positive materials was examined. In diabetic rats, urinary excretion of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances was increased 5-fold over that in nondiabetic animals. High-performance liquid chromatography of urine samples revealed that five of the six fractions previously found to be increased in vitamin E deficiency [Lee, H.-S., Shoeman, D.W., and Csallany, A.S. (1992) Lipids 27, 124-128] were also significantly increased in streptozotocin-induced diabetes. The data suggest that a high level of oxidative stress is induced by uncontrolled diabetes in rats.