Oxidative stress in type 1 diabetes.

We have been investigating the effects of preventing oxidative stress on pathogenesis and complications of type 1 diabetes in the NOD mouse model. Our studies have shown that damage caused by oxidative stress is higher in islets and vascular tissue of NOD mice than in nonautoimmune controls or a diabetes-resistant NOD mouse. In addition, phagocytic function and cytokine production by macrophages are aberrant in the NOD. We have demonstrated that treatment of prediabetic NOD mice for 2 weeks with a metalloporphyrin superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimetic results in marked reduction of oxidative stress in islets and vascular tissue and a reversal of macrophage defects.