[Serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in diabetes mellitus].
The serum superoxide dismutase (s-SOD) activities in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) were assayed in order to evaluate its usefulness for monitoring of DM and also evaluate the relation between s-SOD activities and microangiopathies (nephropathy, neuropathy and retinopathy). As results followings were obtained; 1) s-SOD activities in DM patients were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (12.56 +/- 7.73 vs 10.51 +/- 1.69, p < 0.01). 2) There was no relations between s-SOD activities and FBS-, fructosamine- and HbA1-levels, respectively. 3) Among DM patients s-SOD activities were significantly higher in patients with microangiopathy than those in patients without microangiopathy (14.18 +/- 11.00 vs 11.24 +/- 3.13, p < 0.01). 4) Among DM patients with microangiopathy higher s-SOD activities tended to be observed in patients with triopathy such as nephropathy, neuropathy and retinopathy than in those with one or two microangiopathic complications. 5) Among DM patients with nephropathy the correlation was present between s-SOD activities and levels of creatinine. These results suggest that the assay of s-SOD activity is not useful for the monitoring of DM, however, it is suggested that the high s-SOD activity reflects the microangiopathic complications, particularly nephropathy.