Influence of atenolol and/or metformin on glutathione and magnesium levels in diabetic rats.

Recently there has been growing interest in studying the differences between different classes of antihypertensive drugs in preventing cardiovascular events in diabetic patients. Hypomagnesemia is common in diabetes mellitus, and correlates to its chronic complications and the associated alteration of the antioxidant enzyme activity. Depletion of reduced glutathione (GSH) in the blood has been demonstrated with myocardial injuries associating hypomagnesemia. A previous study has demonstrated a beneficial effect of metformin hydrochloride (Met), an antihyperglycemic drug, on both magnesium (Mg) and GSH levels in diabetic animals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of oral atenolol, metformin (50 and 60 mg kg[-1] day[-1], respectively) and their combination for 14 days on Mg and GSH levels in blood, liver and heart of diabetic male Wistar rats, as these two parameters have been shown to be altered in diabetics and linked to myocardial ischemic injuries. The results of this investigation showed a state of low levels of Mg and GSH in both blood and liver of the diabetic animals. Treatment with atenolol alone did not change these levels significantly, however administration of metformin or atenolol/metformin increased significantly the GSH levels in both liver and blood, and returned the liver Mg content back to normal values.