Assessment of correlation between prooxidant-antioxidant balance in patients with diabetic nephropathy

Introduction: The balance between oxidative stress and antioxidant activity is critical to the pathogenesis of many disorders including diabetic nephropathy. The aim of this study was to determine the Correlation between prooxidant – antioxidant balance( PAB) with microalbuminuria in patients with diabetic nephropathy. Methods: this descriptive cross- sectional study performed in Imam Reza Hospital in year 2012. Forty – six diabetic patients with microalbuminuria and Forty – three diabetic patients without microalbuminuria were enrolled in this study. Forty healthy volunteer selected as a control group. Microalbuminuria is defined as excretion of 30-300 microgram albumin in urine for every milligram of creatinin . The values of PAB were determined by using standard solutions and ELISA method. Pearson’s correlation coefficient method was used for specifying the correlation between our variables. Results: The values of PAB in diabetic patients were significantly higher than that in control group, however , there was no significant difference between PAB values among the two groups of diabetic patients with and without microalbuminuria. There was no significant correlation between PAB values and microalbuminuria in diabetic patients. There was a significant direct correlation between the PAB values andHbA1C in diabetic patients without microalbuminuria. Conclusion:The results of this study indicated that oxidative stress processes were significantly higher in diabetic patients compared with controls but there was no significant correlation between PAB values and microalbuminuria in diabetic patients.