Glutathione and Glutathione Peroxidase in Type 1 Diabetic Patients

Objective: Diabetic (DM) patients are claimed to be under oxidative stress because of hyperglycemia. The influence of free radical production by this hyperglycemic induction may involve cardiovascular complica-tions in diabetes. The present study aimed to compare the glutathione (GSH) level and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity in type 1 DM and a normal healthy group. Material and Method: GSH level and GPx activity were determined in red cells of 20 subjects of type 1 DM containing fasting plasma glucose (FPG)> 140 mg/dL. Twenty healthy normal subjects with normal plasma glucose level (FPG < 110 mg/dL) and matched for gender and age served as the control group. These oxida-tive stress parameters of type 1 DM were compared to a control group by unpaired student’s t-test. The association of these parameters with FPG was performed by Pearson product moment correlation. Results: The level of red cell GSH was significantly lower in type 1 DM (p = 0.011) but red cell GPx activity was significantly increased (p = 0.003) when compared to age-matched normal control. The decrement of red cell GSH may be due to the higher rate of consumption of GSH, increasing GPx activity or a reduction of pentose phosphate pathway, stimulated by insulin, resulting in lowered GSH recycle. The correlation between FPG and GSH in type 1 diabetic patients compared with healthy normal subjects was also observed and it was found that there was a negative correlation, but not found between FPG and GPx activity