Type 2 diabetes mellitus in patients with acute ischemiс stroke is associated with a decrease in plasma glutathione levels

Ischemic stroke (IS) and type 2 diabetes mellitus are factors that affect the homeostasis of low-molecularweight aminothiols (cysteine, homocysteine, glutathione etc.). It has already been shown that IS in the acute period led to a decrease a level of reduced forms of aminothiols, but it is not clear whether type 2 diabetes mellitus has a noticeable effect there.

Objective: to reveal the features of homeostasis of aminothiols in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in acute IS.

Material and methods. The study involved 76 patients with primary middle cerebral artery IS in the first 10–24 hours after development of neurological symptoms. Group 1 included 15 patients with IS and type 2 diabetes mellitus, group 2 — 61 patients with IS and stress hyperglycemia. Their total plasma levels of cysteine, homocysteine, and glutathione, their reduced forms, and redox status were determined at admission (in the first 24 hours after IS).

Results. There was a decrease in the level of total glutathione level (1.27 vs. 1.65 μM, p = 0.021), as well as its reduced form (0.03 vs. 0.04 μM, p = 0.007) in patients with IS and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who had a low redox status of homocysteine (0.65–1.2%) and glutathione (0.7–2.0%) were also characterized by a decrease in total glutathione level (p = 0.02; p = 0.03).

Conclusion. Thus, type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with a decrease in the level of total glutathione in acute IS. Probably, type 2 diabetes mellitus is characterized by a particular relationship between the metabolism of homocysteine, glutathione and glucose. Therefore, the search for homocysteine-dependent approaches to correct glutathione metabolism in type 2 diabetes mellitus may be of interest as an adjuvant therapy for IS.

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