The authors examined 15 healthy (group 0) and 42 diabetic subjects (groups 1 and 2) with the goal of investigating the relationships between the of antioxidant activity in blood. The diabetics were divided into two groups on the basis of duration of diabetes: 25 patients suffered from diabetes for less than 10 years (group 1), 17 of them had diabetes for a longer period of time (group 2). The ratio of type I: type II diabetics was 8:17 and 3:14 in group 1 and 2, respectively. Clinical chemistry revealed that serum glucose, HbA1c concentration and atherogenic index were sitnificantly elevated in the both diabetic groups. Among the antioxidants the measured erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) and plasma Total Antioxidant Status (TAS) were significantly reduced in group 2 as compared to group 1, while the activities of whole blood glutathione peroxidase (Gpx) and erythocyte catalase (CAT) did not differ. A significatn negative correlation (r=-0.33, p<0.05) could be observed between TAS and the duration of the disease. Serum antioxidant substances of low molecular weight, such as uric acid and bilirubin, did not show any significant difference but serum albumin was significantly lower in group 2 as compared to the control group. Teh study seems to indicate that atherogenic factors and antioxidant activity could be inversely related to the duration of diabetes.

Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, antioxidant status, duration of diabetes