Lipid peroxide concentration, selenium level, and glutathione peroxidase activity in blood of type II (non-insulin-dependent) diabetic elderly people.

Abstract

The lipid peroxides in terms of malondialdehyde concentration, glutathione peroxidase activity and selenium level were determined in the blood of 22 elderly non-insulin-dependent diabetics of both sexes. The results were compared with the values obtained for 43 healthy persons of the same age. The lipid peroxide concentration in plasma and selenium level in whole blood and plasma were the same in both diabetics and controls. In the diabetes group a nonsignificantly lower (7%) selenium concentration in red blood cells was observed, whereas the glutathione peroxidase activity in erythrocytes of the patients tested was statistically lower (p<0.02) as compared with normals. In plasma, activity of this enzyme was increased by 14% as compared with healthy people, but without statistical significance. We found that selenium excretion in the urine found was significantly higher in the diabetics than in healthy people. We found a statistically significant, linear correlation (r=0.435, p<0.05) between enzyme activity and lipid peroxide concentration in plasma, and between plasma and urine selenium levels (r=0.937, p<0.001) in diabetes.