Antioxidant Effect of Atorvastatin in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Evidence has long been existed regarding the relationship between oxidative stress and diabetes. The present study was conducted to assess the effect of atorvastatin on selected oxidative stress parameters and its effect on lipid profile parameters in dyslipidaemic type 2 diabetic patients. Fifty nine dyslipidaemic type 2 diabetic patients were included in this study. A full history was taken and general examination was performed. The patients were taking an oral hypoglycaemic drug (glibenclamide) during the study. The patients were followed up for 60 days and divided randomly into 2 groups. Group I (n = 31) received no drug and served as dyslipidaemic diabetic control. Group II (n = 28) received atorvastatin tablets 20 mg once daily at night. Blood samples were drawn from the patients at the beginning and after 60 days of follow up between 8:30 and 10:30 am after at least 12-14 hours fasting. Fasting blood glucose, lipid profile, selective oxidative stress parameters, glutathione S reductase (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, glutathione S transferase (GST) and catalase (CAT) activities were measured. Renal and hepatic functions were also assessed. The results showed that atorvastatin treatment produced significant increase in serum levels of GSH and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), while serum levels of MDA, Total Cholesterol (TC), Triglyceride (TG), Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C) and Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) were significantly decreased. However, no significant effect was observed regarding CAT and GST activity. There were insignificant correlations between atorvastatin induced changes in the oxidation markers and the observed changes of the lipid profile. In conclusion, the antioxidant effect of atorvastatin could be unrelated to its hypolipidemic action as there was insignificant correlation between changes in lipid profile and oxidative stress in this study.