[Changes in the heme metabolic pathway in diabetic patients].

In the last decades several authors have observed a frequent association between diabetes mellitus and porphyria, mainly porphyria cutanea tarda. In previous studies, it has been demonstrated that both d delta d-aminolevulic acid dehydratase (ALA-D) and porphobilinogen deaminase (PBG-D), enzymes of the heme pathway, are inhibited by high concentrations of glucose in vitro in crude preparations of erythrocytes. The activity of these same enzymes was diminished in different tissues obtained from streptozotocin induced diabetic mice.