ANTIOXIDANT ENZYME LEVELS AS MARKERS FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by increased production of free radicals and oxidative stress. Oxidative stress can be defined as an imbalance between the removal of free radical production and altered activity levels of antioxidant enzymes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant enzyme activity such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione S transferase (GST) in T2DM patients and healthy subjects in a North Indian population. The study was conducted on 474 T2DM and 301 healthy subjects. Blood lysates were prepared and levels of antioxidant enzymes viz. SOD, CAT and GST were measured by spectrophotometric method. Data were analyzed by using Prism software (v 5.01) and expressed as Mean ± SE. The activity levels of SOD and GST were significantly lower in T2DM patients than in healthy subjects (P<0.05) whereas that of catalase was higher in T2DM patients (15.56±1.53 units/mg) than in healthy subjects (12.12±1.212 units/mg). Analysis of data also showed that enzyme activity levels decreased with increasing age both in normal and T2DM conditions. Only GST level showed significant decrease in diabetic males while both GST and SOD decreased in diabetic females. Assay of enzyme activity levels in erythrocytes could be used as markers to identify individuals predisposed to T2DM.