Oxidative stress in a biological system is the shift in the homeostasis between oxidants and antioxidants in favour of oxidants. It is suggested to be playing a key role in onset and development of complication of Diabetes Mellitus. The present study aimed to assess the oxidative stress and compare the antioxidant enzyme status in patients with Type 2 Diabetes and paired controls. Total study population consisted of 33 subjects with Diabetes and 10 controls from both male and female gender incorporated for the study. Plasma Malondialdehyde level, an indicator of oxidative stress and antioxidative enzyme system including Erythrocyte Superoxide dismutase, catalase and Glutathione Peroxidase were estimated. Subjects with diabetes had significantly higher plasma malondialdehyde as compared to controls. Antioxidant enzymes levels were found to be lower in diabetic patients as compared to controls. In conclusion, hyperglycemia increases production of free radicals leading to increased lipid peroxidation. The antioxidant enzyme system weakens in diabetic patients compared to controls. It was noted that patients with good glycemic control had less oxidative stress compared to patients with poor control.

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The function of the adrenal zona glomerulosa was studied in 18 patients with 11-hydroxylase deficiency confirmed by elevated plasma levels of 11-deoxycortisol. Patients were divided into two groups. Group I (4 males, 7 females; aged 1.2-2.8 yrs) had symptoms at birth or shortly after (classic form), and Group II (4 males, 3 females; aged 7.3-20.1 yrs) had their first clinical manifestation during childhood (non-classic form). To study zona glomerulosa function, patients were given dexamethasone p.o. 2 mg/m2/day x6 days, thus suppressing the zona fasciculata. Six hours after the last dose of dexamethasone, the zona glomerulosa was stimulated by i.v. administration of furosemide 1.0 mg/kg as a single dose. Blood was drawn 2 h later. In the untreated state, all patients had striking elevation of ACTH (Group I: 1,070 +/- 380 pg/ml; Group II: 764 +/- 180 pg/ml), 11-deoxycortisol (Group I: 63,000 +/- 22,000 ng/dl; Group II: 17,200 +/- 5,200 ng/dl) and deoxycorticosterone (Group I: 1,100 +/- 67 ng/dl; Group II: 499 +/- 27 ng%) while plasma renin activity (< 0.5 ng/ml/h in both groups) and aldosterone (Group I: 3.0 +/- 1.8 ng/dl; Group II: 2.3 +/- 1.8 ng/dl) were markedly suppressed. After the administration of furosemide 4 patients in Group I were unable to increase aldosterone (2.8 +/- 0.9 ng/dl) secretion in spite of marked elevation of plasma renin activity (28 +/- 7 ng/ml/h), suggesting an impairment of 11-hydroxylase in the zona glomerulosa.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)