Question

Each student should also find out the mechanisms of: a. diabetes and oxidative stress b. diabetes and immune dysfunction.

Answer 1

(a).

Diabetes and the complications of oxidative stress are closely related. The complications of diabetes are interrelated, especially the cardiovascular complications and microvascular complications. For example, the metabolic abnormalities in diabetes induce the overproduction of superoxide radicals in the myocardium, and in the smaller, and larger vasculature. In type 2 diabetes patients, atherosclerosis and cardiomyopathy are caused due to the increased reactive oxygen species from free fatty acids and the inactivation of enzymes preventing atherosclerosis.

(b).

The type I diabetes mellitus (DM) occur due to the generation of autoantibodies against the pancreatic beta cells. The patients with DM are more prone to infectious conditions due to the defective immune system. The disturbances are mostly seen in the humoral immunity, but not in the adaptive immunity. Better regulation of blood glucose levels reduce the susceptibility to infections by improving the cellular functions.