INFLUENCE OF ATENOLOL AND OR METFORMIN ON GLUTATHIONE AND MAGNESIUM LEVELS IN DIABETIC RATS/

Recently there has been growing interest in studying the differences b etween different classes of antihypertensive drugs in preventing cardi ovascular events in diabetic patients. Hypomagnesemia is common in dia betes mellitus, and correlates to its chronic complications and the as sociated alteration of the antioxidant enzyme activity, Depletion of r educed glutathione (GSH) in the blood has been demonstrated with myoca rdial injuries associating hypomagnesemia, A previous study has demons trated a beneficial effect of metformin hydrochloride (Met), an antihy perglycemic drug, on both magnesium (Mg) and GSH levels in diabetic an imals, The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of oral atenolol, metformin (50 and 60 mg kg(-1) day(-1), respectively) and t heir 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 inj uries, The results of this investigation showed a state of low levels of Mg and GSH in both blood and liver of the diabetic animals, Treatme nt with atenolol alone did not change these levels significantly, howe ver administration of metformin or atenolol/metformin increased signif icantly the GSH levels in both liver and blood, and returned the liver Mg content back to normal values. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.