Relationship of serum N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase activity to oxidative stress in diabetes mellitus

Serum N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase activity was evaluated in 40 Type 1 and 40 Type 2 diabetic patients and compared with parameters of diabetes control and oxidative stress. Significantly increased mean serum N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase activity was found in both groups of diabetic patients as compared with the corresponding group of healthy persons (p < 0.01). Oxidative stress measured by plasma malondialdehyde concentration was significantly higher in Type 2 than in Type 1 diabetic patients (p < 0.01) but in comparison with control subjects it was higher only in Type 2 diabetes. Plasma malondialdehyde concentration positively correlated with body mass index (r = 0.77, p < 0.001) and with serum N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase activities (r = 0.57, p < 0.001). Treatment of 10 Type 2 diabetic patients with antioxidant alpha-tocopherol caused a significant decrease in malondialdehyde concentration (p < 0.001) which was accompanied by a decrease of N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase activity (p < 0.01). We conclude that serum N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase activity may be influenced by oxidative stress which is more pronounced in Type 2 than in Type 1 diabetic patients. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.