A comparitive study on iodination of normal and diabetic serum.

It is a well known fact that iodine is a very important trace element for normal growth and metabolism. Iodination of biomolecules has many important functions in the field of research, assay procedures, investigation and diagnosis of diseases. The present study is done to compare the iodine uptake by the serum of diabetes mellitus cases and healthy controls. Methods: The study was carried out on 50 cases of known diabetes mellitus with mean fasting blood glucose level of 324 mg/dl and 25 healthy controls with mean fasting blood glucose level of 78 mg/dl. The modified version of the colorimetric method was employed for the assay of iodine uptake. The data’s were analyzed using SPSS version 10. Results: Serum total iodine uptake was decreased significantly in cases as compared to healthy controls (p <0.01). Conclusion: The results of our study indicate that there is decreased iodine uptake by diabetic serum. The cause for decreased iodine uptake may be related to high blood sugar level which possibly may be causing some alteration in the structure of biomolecules by glycation leading to decrease in the binding sites of iodine.

Iron supplementation and oxidative stress in patients with uremia.

The existence of oxidative stress in uremia is well proved but the relative importance of uremic status versus the role of free iron in exacerbating oxidative stress in patients with uremia is not been clarified. Serum creatinine, free iron both in ferrous and ferric state, protein thiols, lipid hydroperoxides levels were estimated by spectrophotometric methods. The study groups comprised of patients with chronic kidney disease on conservative management, on hemodialysis with and without iron supplementation, and compared with healthy controls. Free iron levels were higher in patients with chronic kidney disease on conservative management, hemodialysis patients with and without iron supplementation. Hemodialysis cases with iron supplementation had significantly higher free iron levels as compared to hemodialysis cases without iron supplementation. The levels of lipid hydroperoxides were higher and protein thiols were lower in patient groups. Creatinine correlated positively with free iron and lipid hydroperoxides, and negatively with protein thiols. In conclusion, uremia per se may be responsible for enhanced oxidative stress in patients with chronic kidney disease.