Abstract
Pregnancy in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is associated with a greater incidence of fetal abnormality. Animal studies suggested that increased free-radical production and antioxidant depletion may contribute to this risk. The objective of this work was to evaluate oxidative stress and antioxidant capacity in hypertensive, diabetics, and healthy control women during labor. Simultaneous determination of antioxidant enzymes activities, namely glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), glutathione reductase (GSH-red), superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant, and lipid peroxides measured as thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) levels, were carried out in maternal plasma during labor. Plasma GSH-Px activity was found to be significantly increased as it doubled in hypertensive, and diabetic women when compared with healthy control women (P < 0.05). In contrast, plasma SOD activity was significantly decreased in both groups when compared to the control group (P < 0.05). No significant differences were detected in GSH-Red activity between diabetic, hypertensive and control groups. Alterations in antioxidant enzyme activities were accompanied by a significant increase in the levels of plasma lipid peroxides in hypertensive and diabetic women during labor. Plasma levels of total antioxidants were significantly increased in diabetic women as compared with the control group. Based on our results, it may be concluded that enhanced generation of oxidative stress causes alteration of antioxidant capacity in diabetic and hypertensive women during labor. Alterations in antioxidant and prooxidant components may result in various complications including peroxidation of vital body molecules which may be regarded as an increased risk factor for pregnant women as well as the fetus.
Highlights
Lipid peroxidation is an oxidative process which occurs at low levels in all cells and tissues
Our results show that all blood parameters including red blood cells (RBC) count, white blood cells (WBC) count, platelets counts, and HB concentration in control, diabetic, and hypertensive women during labor were found to be statistically the same
The hypothesis underpinning this study was that impaired antioxidant status in diabetic and hypertensive women during labor might contribute to an increased risk of fetal abnormality
Summary
Lipid peroxidation is an oxidative process which occurs at low levels in all cells and tissues. A variety of antioxidant mechanisms serve to control this peroxidative process [1]. The generation of free radicals is a normal physiological process, but increased production of free radicals can act on lipids causing lipid peroxidation. Free radical scavenging mechanisms includes enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants which limit the cellular concentration of free radical and prevent excessive oxidative stress. Pregnancy is a stressful condition in which many physiological and metabolic functions are altered to a considerable extent. Pregnancy is a physiological state, accompanied by a high-energy demand and an increased oxygen utilization, both of which may lead to increased oxidative stress. Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance between free-radical production and the radical scavenging capacity of antioxidant systems [3]. Leal et al [4] showed that there was a change in the prooxidant and antioxidant defenses that are inherent to pregnancy process
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