Oxidative stress is produced under diabetic conditions and possibly causes various
forms of tissue damage and destruction of pancreatic β-cells in insulin-dependent
diabetes mellitus (IDDM) patients. The present study was carried out to examine the
involvement of oxidative stress in the progression of pancreatic β-cell dysfunction in
type 1 diabetes and to evaluate the potential usefulness of antioxidants in the
treatment of type 1diabetes. The present study was achieved using ٢٤ male Sprague
Dawley albino rats. Rats were divided into three groups: normal control rats,
diabetic control rats, and diabetic rats received mixture of antioxidants. A mixture of
antioxidants (N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), alpha-lipoic acid (LA), vitamin E and vitamin
C) was orally administered daily to cyclophosphamide-induced diabetic rats for a
period of two months. The results revealed that these antioxidants exerted
amelioration in fasting plasma glucose level, significant inhibition of lipid peroxides
level and observed elevation in glutathione (GSH) level and glutathione peroxidase
(GPX) activity of diabetic rats. On the basis of the present results it could be
concluded that (N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), alpha-lipoic (LA), vitamin E and vitamin C)
restored the activities of the studied parameters and the activities of some enzymes in
different ways, depending on special mechanism in each one. Supplementation of
antioxidants at once after diagnosis of diabetes may delay the complications of
diabetes. This finding suggests a potential usefulness of antioxidants for treating
diabetes and provides further support for the implication of oxidative stress in β-cell
dysfunction in diabetes.