A growing body of evidence suggests that hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress plays an important role in diabetic complications, especially β-cell dysfunction and failure. Under physiological conditions, reactive oxygen species serve as second messengers that facilitate signal transduction and gene expression in pancreatic β-cells. However, under pathological conditions, an imbalance in redox homeostasis leads to aberrant tissue damage and β-cell death due to a lack of antioxidant defense systems. Taking into account the vulnerability of islets to oxidative damage, induction of endogenous antioxidant enzymes or exogenous antioxidant administration has been proposed as a way to protect β-cells against diabetic insults. Here, we consider recent insights into how the redox response becomes deregulated under diabetic conditions, as well as the therapeutic benefits of antioxidants, which may provide clues for developing strategies aimed at the treatment or prevention of diabetes associated with β-cell failure.
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Macrovascular and microvascular diseases are currently the principal causes of morbidity and mortality in subjects with diabetes. Disorders of the physiological signaling functions of reactive oxygen species (superoxide and hydrogen peroxide) and reactive nitrogen species (nitric oxide and peroxynitrite) are important features of diabetes. In the absence of an appropriate compensation by the endogenous antioxidant defense network, increased oxidative stress leads to the activation of stress-sensitive intracellular signaling pathways and the formation of gene products that cause cellular damage and contribute to the vascular complications of diabetes. It has recently been suggested that diabetic subjects with vascular complications may have a defective cellular antioxidant response against the oxidative stress generated by hyperglycemia. This raises the concept that antioxidant therapy may be of great benefit to these subjects. Although our understanding of how hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress ultimately leads to tissue damage has advanced considerably in recent years, effective therapeutic strategies to prevent or delay the development of this damage remain limited. Thus, further investigation of therapeutic interventions to prevent or delay the progression of diabetic vascular complications is needed.
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