Oxidative stress, acute and regular exercise: are they really harmful in the diabetic patient?

Oxidative stress has been involved in the pathogenic process of a variety o f diseases including diabetes mellitus. The production of oxidative reactiv e products has been involved in biochemical changes in bio-molecules that m ight produce tissue damage directly related to some of the main vascular co mplications in the diabetic patient. On the other hand, exercise, paradoxic ally, is a well-recognized model of oxidative stress and also an important therapeutic tool in diabetes management. Therefore, the relationship betwee n oxidative stress and exercise in diabetic patients implies an interesting biochemical paradox due to some of the negative effects of exercise princi pally by the increase of oxidative species in plasma. The effect of oxidati ve stress during an acute exercise and after an aerobic training period on those patients remains unknown and needs to be studied. (C) 2000 Harcourt P ublishers Ltd.