Quantitative in Vivo Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress in Diabetes

Detailed Summary

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the development and complications of diabetes. Hyperglycemia and insulin resistance or insufficiency in diabetes can cause oxidative stress by excessive reactive oxygen species and can increase damage and alter antioxidant status in nerve cells. Antioxidant defense mechanisms protect against damage or restore oxidative damage. Glutathione, a powerful antioxidant plays a key role in the first line of antioxidant defense and seems to be a sensitive indicator of oxidative stress in various diseases such as diabetes. Glutathione functions in the regeneration of vitamin C which is another crucial antioxidant. Both hyperglycemia and insulin insufficiency inhibit uptake of vitamin C. The brain contains measurable amounts of glutathione that contribute to the antioxidant pool in the brain and guards against disease processes that are caused by oxidative stress. Since the brain is the most highly oxidative organ in the body and highly susceptible to oxidative stress, with increasing impact on diabetes, biomarkers of oxidative stress in the brain through the use of novel magnetic resonance imaging techniques for glutathione and vitamin C will be studied.

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