Oxidative stress and diabetes

Abstract

Oxidative stress has become the focus of interest in most biomedical disciplines and many types of clinical research. Research on several diseases show that oxidative stress is associated with the pathogenesis of diabetes, obesity, cancer, ageing, inflammation, neurodegenerative disorders, hypertension, apoptosis, cardiovascular diseases, and heart failure. Based on this research, the emerging concept is that oxidative stress is the final common pathway, through which risk factors of several diseases exert their deleterious effects. Oxidative stress causes a complex dysregulation of cell metabolism and cell homeostasis; in particular, oxidative stress plays a key role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and beta-cell dysfunction. These are the two most relevant mechanisms in the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes and in the pathogenesis of diabetic vascular complications, the leading cause of death in diabetic patients.