Chapters authored
Oxidative Stress in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: Ethnic Aspects
Numerous researches show that data on an ethnic origin can give additional information for the personified approach in treatment of different diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of some lipid peroxidation components and antioxidant defense system in Mongoloid and Caucasian patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Conjugated dienes, ketodienes and conjugated trienes, thiobarbituric acid reactants, total antioxidant activity, α-tocopherol, retinol, superoxide dismutase activity, reduced and oxidized glutathione, and oxidative stress coefficient levels were evaluated in 65 patients with type 1 diabetes (38 Mongoloids and 27 Caucasians) and in 82 healthy people (42 Mongoloids and 40 Caucasians). Spectrophotometric and fluorometric methods were used. The intensity of LPO in Mongoloid patients was lower than in Caucasians: the level of primary and intermediate products was by lower 1.53 and 1.83 times, while total antioxidant activity was elevated by 1.44 times, and decreased α-tocopherol level by 1.32 times, which was also supported by oxidative stress coefficient (1.35 in Mongoloids and 2.32 in Caucasians). Activity of the POL-AOD system in Mongoloids is low, which is probably due to the increase of antioxidant defense system work. These results are consistent with clinical characteristics of type 1 diabetes mellitus with infrequent development of complications in Mongoloids living in Eastern Siberia.
Part of the book: Free Radicals, Antioxidants and Diseases
Metabolic Syndrome as the First Stage of Eldership; the Beginning of Real Aging
The history of active worldwide scientific research on mechanisms of aging and the age-associated diseases counts more than five decades. Of these, among the numerous theories of aging, at least 50 years dominated the free radical theory of aging. Since mitochondria were found to be the major producers of free radicals, the research on aging became largely centered on mitochondria. At the end of 80s of the 20th century, physicians have established a new nosological entity named “Metabolic syndrome” comprising several simultaneously existing symptoms and risk factors, which increase with age to 47% in men and 64% for women. The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome (MetS) requires simultaneous presence of at least three out of five medical conditions: visceral obesity, hypertension, high blood sugar, insulin resistance, low serum high-density lipoprotein accompanied with high serum triglycerides. However, from the beginning of the definition of MetS there was, and still is, a rather lovely debate, which of the symptoms must be considered as the main one. In spite of the enormous number of publications on both mechanisms of aging and MetS, there was relatively small progress in understanding the fundamental processes in these closely related problems. On the contrary, the mitochondrial free radical theory was found to be wrong in its current paradigms. In this Chapter we will discuss recent discoveries and hypotheses which open new perspectives in both theoretical and practical approaches to the problems of aging and MetS. We will show how aging and development of MetS are closely related to each other and the normal ontogenesis of human beings. Why men and women have different rates of aging and mechanisms of transition to MetS. We state that MetS is not just a cluster of symptoms, but one of the last steps of individual ontogenesis, namely the first step of eldership when the aging rate may increase manifold.
Part of the book: Update in Geriatrics