Effect of vitamin E supplementation on microalbuminuria, lipid peroxidation and blood prostaglandins in diabetic patients.

Background: Oxidative stress is an important pathogenic factor in the development of diabetic vascular complications.

Aims: To study the effect of vitamin E supplementation on microalbuminuria, plasma levels of malondialdehyde (MLD) and metabolites of prostaglandins TXA2 (TXB2) and PGI2 (6-keto-PGF1alpha) and to evaluate the relation between plasma MLD and thromboxane B2 (TXB2) in diabetic patients.

Patients And Methods: Diabetic microalbuminuric patients were supplemented with vitamin E 1200 IU daily (EVIT, Rodisma, Germany) and measurements of microalbuminuria, MLD, TXB2 and 6-ketoPGF1alpha were repeated after 4 months of treatment.

Results: Vitamin E supplementation lowered microalbuminuria (93.8 +/- 45.6 vs 67.95 +/- 28.4 microg/min, p < 0.05), MLD (0.55 +/- 0.26 vs 0.32 +/- 0.16 micromol/l, p < 0.001) and also TXB2 level (115.14 +/- 22.7 vs 15.32 +/- 14.7 ng/l, p < 0.001) in diabetic microalbuminuric patients. The changes of 6-keto-PGF1alpha after treatment were not significant.

Conclusions: Our results did not show any significant relationship between levels of MLD and TXB2. Vitamin E supplementation significantly lowered microalbuminuria, MLD and TXB2. (Tab. 2, Fig. 2, Ref. 35).