Antioxidant Shown to Prevent Diabetes in Mice

A study has shown that a synthetic antioxidant can delay and prevent the onset of autoimmune diabetes in mice. The study, reported in the February 2002 issue of Diabetes, was conducted by researchers at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center (Denver, CO, USA) and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (Denver, CO, USA).

The antioxidant not only protected insulin-producing beta cells from destructive oxygen radicals but also prevented the immune system from recognizing beta cells, its target in diabetes. The researchers used a synthetic catalytic antioxidant called AEOL 10113, which mimics the naturally occurring antioxidant superoxide dismutase but works against a wider range of oxygen radicals and lasts longer in the body.

The antioxidant was injected into 10 mice one day before transplanting T cells to cause diabetes and four more times afterward, with the last injection on day nine. The five control mice all became diabetic by day 13, while none of the treated mice showed any signs of diabetes until day 21. Half of the treated mice remained diabetes free after four weeks. Subsequent experiments showed that the antioxidant can prevent the immune system from recognizing specific antigens, suggesting that the antioxidant might be used with specific antigens to treat other autoimmune diseases as well as diabetes.

"These data show that antioxidants protect against diabetes on two fronts,” said James Crapo, M.D., co-author of the study and chairman of the department of medicine at National Jewish. "They not only mop up destructive oxygen radicals, but also alter the immune response.” The AEOL 10113 antioxidant was developed by Dr. Crapo and colleagues.



Related Links:
National Jewish Medical and Research Center
Univ. of Colorado