Plasma lipid peroxide and antioxidant levels in diabetic patients

The present study was to investigate the levels of plasma lipid peroxide products including malondialdehyde (MDA) and conjugated dienes (CD), and antioxidants including enzyme superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, plasma vitamin E and vitamin C in diabetic patients. Fifty-eight diabetic subjects; 16 males and 42 females, aged 30-75 years, were recruited. Eighteen of them had diabetes and forty of them had diabetes with hyperlipidemia. Twenty-seven healthy subjects, 8 males and 19 females, aged 30-75 years, were used as the control group. The results showed that the concentrations of plasma MDA in diabetic patients with or without hyperlipidemia tended to be increased when compared to the controls but there were no significant differences. The CD values were increased significantly in both diabetic groups when compared with control subjects. Significantly elevated levels of plasma MDA and CD were found in diabetic patients with hypertriglyceridemia (> 150 mg%). This increment did not change the antioxidant status in both enzymes and vitamins except that the plasma vitamin E levels and the ratios of tocopherol: cholesterol were increased significantly. An increase of lipid peroxide in plasma may be one important factor in the development of vascular complication and atherosclerosis seen in diabetic patients.