title: Oxidative DNA damage and plasma antioxidant capacity in type 2 diabetic patients with good and poor glycaemic control.
abstract: Diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disorder characterized by a disturbance in glucose metabolism. Recent evidence suggests that increased oxidative damage as well as reduction in antioxidant capacity could be related to the complications in patients with type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to measure plasma antioxidant status in type 2 diabetic patients with good and poor glycaemic control and its relationship with oxidative DNA damage. Thirty-nine type 2 diabetic patients and eighteen healthy subjects were recruited for this study. We found that diabetic patients had slightly, but not significantly lower antioxidant capacity, measured with the "ferric reducing ability of plasma" (FRAP) assay, than healthy subjects. On the contrary, oxidative DNA damage (measured by the Comet assay) in leukocytes obtained from diabetic patients was significantly higher compared to healthy subjects. Taking into account glucose control, we found that the FRAP level was significantly (p<0.05) lower in diabetic subjects with poor glycaemic control than healthy subjects, while patients with good glycaemic control had FRAP values similar to controls. We also observed an unexpected positive correlation between FRAP values and oxidative DNA damage in diabetic patients; moreover, a positive correlation was found between FRAP and glucose level or HbA(1c) in patients with poor glycaemic control. In conclusion, our results confirm that patients with type 2 diabetes have a higher oxidative DNA damage than healthy subjects and that plasma antioxidant capacity is significantly lower only in patients with poor glycaemic control, moreover, in these patients FRAP values are positively correlated with glycaemic levels and HbA(1c). These observations indicate that a compensatory increase of the antioxidant status is induced as a response to free radical overproduction in type 2 diabetes. Therefore, the addition of antioxidant supplements to the current pharmacological treatment could have potentially beneficial effects in diabetic patients with poor glycaemic control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Florence, Viale Pieraccini 6, 50139 Florence, Italy. maura.lodovici@unifi.it
authors.forename: Maura
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lodovici
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Giovannelli
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pitozzi
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bigagli
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bardini
authors.forename: Carlo Maria
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Rotella
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose; D004249:DNA Damage; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose