ACTA ENDOCRINOLOGICA (BUC)

Context: rising incidence of Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has been reported in the recent years and it has become an important public health problem, mainly among women aged 35-39 years. Objectives: Frequency of GDM in the females who are living in the northwest of Iran was evaluated. Subjects and Methods: two hundred and fifty pregnant women at 24-28th weeks of gestation were screened using 50 g oral glucose challenge test (OGCT), and the subjects with blood sugar levels equal or greater than 130 mg/dl were referred to diagnostic 100 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). GDM was diagnosed according to Carpenter and Coustan criteria. Results: eighty six women (34.4%) with positive result of screening test were selected for subsequent OGTT with 100 g oral glucose. GDM was diagnosed in twenty four women (9.6 %) with at least 2 abnormal values. Frequency of GDM in the older subjects or the subjects with high pre-pregnancy or 24-28th weeks’ body mass index(BMI) were significantly higher than younger pregnant females or the subjects with low BMI. Conclusion: Prevalence of GDM in the current study was 11.9%, which is higher than earlier reports and implicates that the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus has markedly been increasing in Iran and associated with maternal age and body mass index.

Context. Diabetes is one of the causes of cardiovascular damage because it increases production of free radicals. Antioxidants, such as vitamin E (vit E), have been tested for efficacy in defending against free radical mediated tissue injuries. Objective. We aimed to investigate the effect of vit E on oxidative stress status and homocysteine (Hcy) in cardiac tissue of diabetic rats. Subjects and Methods. Sixteen Wistar male rats were treated with streptozotocin (STZ) (60 mg/kg) to induce diabetes. Diabetic rats were divided into two groups: non-treated diabetic (NTD) and vit E-treated diabetic (VETD) rats. The VETD group received 300 mg/kg vit E with daily feeding. Eight normal rats of the same age were used as the control group. After 6 weeks, the rats were anesthetized, their cardiac tissue was removed, and homogenated supernatant was separated. Samples were assayed for total antioxidant capacity (TAC), lipid peroxidation (LPO), nitrite (NO2-), nitrate (NO3-) and homocysteine (Hcy). Results. The contents of LPO, NO3- and Hcy in NTD compared to control group indicate a significant increase, but the levels of these parameters decreased in VETD (P<0.05). There was a significant decrease in the amount of TAC in the NTD group but in VETD group, that significantly increased (P<0.05). The amount of NO2- in NTD and VETD groups, compared to the control group, did not show any significant changes (P>0.05). Conclusions. Significant decrease in the cardiac tissue oxidative stress and Hcy resulted from vit E supplementation strongly indicated that this radical scavenger may promote a protective effect on diabetic cardiomyopathy through the attenuation of oxidative stress and increase antioxidant defense mechanism.