ABSTRACT
Levels of antioxidants, activities of free radical scavenging enzymes and extent of lipid peroxidation were determined in the blood of 37 elderly diabetic men and 30 control elderly men, 16 without cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 14 with CVD. The mean +/-S.D. of the ages of the diabetic men was 66+/-5 and those of the control men was 69+/-5, while serum glucose levels of diabetic men were 213+/-81 mg/dl and that of control subjects were 95+/-14 mg/dl. Among the diabetic men, 13 men were obese with body mass index>30, 26 men had poor control of diabetes (glycohemoglobin>7%) and 25 men had retinopathy. The diets of the control and diabetic men were evaluated. Blood samples were collected and analyzed for major endogenous antioxidant defense parameters and lipid peroxidation. The results show that diabetic men had significantly lower blood reduced glutathione levels (p<0.001) and erythrocyte (RBC) CuZn-superoxide dismutase activity (p<0.001) when compared to control groups with or without CVD. There was no significant differences in plasma vitamin E levels and the activities of catalase and glutathione peroxidase in RBC among the three groups. The extent of lipid peroxidation was highest in diabetic patients, intermediate in controls with CVD, and lowest in controls without CVD. The results suggest that a decline of endogenous antioxidant defense capability contributes to oxidative stress in the diabetic elderly patients. Dietary survey showed that there were no differences in the nutrient intakes of diabetic and control groups. It appears that individual dietary advice is needed for a large portion of diabetic patients in view of their poor glycemic control, hypertriglyceridemia and obesity.
ABSTRACT
Whether ethanol (ETOH) abuse could contribute to the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive drug abusers is a critical question for which little experimental information is available. This study was designed to determine if chronic ETOH feeding and murine AIDS virus infection cooperatively affected liver antioxidant defense systems in C57B1/6 female mice. Mice were divided into two groups and fed the Lieber-DeCarli liquid ETOH diet containing ETOH at a concentration to provide 31% of total caloric intake or an isocaloric liquid control (control) diet in which dextrin-maltose replaced ETOH. One week after the initiation of ETOH feeding, half of the mice in each diet group (8 mice) were injected intraperitoneally with murine retrovirus (MAIDS) stock. After 3 and 5 weeks of ETOH feeding, half of the mice in each of the four treatment groups (4 mice) were killed, and livers were excised for biochemical analysis. Liver reduced glutathione (GSH) levels and activities of glutathione peroxidase (GP), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione transferase (GT), catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD), and serum ETOH concentrations were determined. The results demonstrated that serum ETOH concentrations were significantly elevated in ETOH-MAIDS group when compared with the ETOH group. Moreover, chronic ETOH feeding and MAIDS infection independently depressed liver antioxidant defense capability, and together led to an additive inhibition of GSH and SOD activities. In addition, MAIDS infection inhibited an ETOH-induced increase in catalase and GT activities. These results suggest that alcohol abuse could contribute to the development of AIDS by inhibiting the protective capability of an infected individual against oxidative stress.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Subject(s)
Glutathione Peroxidase/metabolism , Glutathione Reductase/metabolism , Glutathione Transferase/metabolism , Liver Diseases, Alcoholic/physiopathology , Murine Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/physiopathology , Reactive Oxygen Species/metabolism , Superoxide Dismutase/metabolism , Animals , Ethanol/pharmacokinetics , Ethanol/toxicity , Female , Inactivation, Metabolic/physiology , Liver/drug effects , Liver/physiopathology , Mice , Mice, Inbred C57BLABSTRACT
This study shows the variability of response of serum cholesterol to whole food dietary cholesterol eaten by free-living people. Divided into two groups in a crossover design, normolipemic, healthy volunteers in Group A showed statistically significant increases in mean serum cholesterol after eating three eggs daily for 10 weeks (p less than or equal to .01) and a significant decrease within 2 weeks of crossover to eating no eggs (p less than or equal to .03). Group B exhibited a significant decrease in mean serum cholesterol after eating no eggs for 12 weeks (p less than or equal to .02) but, after crossing over to eating 3 eggs daily for 10 weeks, showed no longitudinally significant increases. Only Group A showed statistically significant changes in mean high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, i.e., an increase at the end of 12 weeks of eating three eggs daily (p less than or equal to .001). Mean serum triglycerides showed no significant change.
