Background: Because vitamin E deficiency has been demonstrated in platelets obtained from diabetic subjects, in our research we investigated the platelet activity and the oxidative stress in alloxan diabetic rats supplemented with vitamin E.
Material and methods: The platelet activity was estimated by the adhesion index (AI) and the oxidative stress was correlated with the determined level of malondialdehyde (MDA) an end product of lipid peroxidation.
Results: We found that alloxanic diabetes was associated with significant increase in the both MDA level and AI (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively). The AI was better correlated to the MDA level (r = +0.60) than to the hyperglycemia. The administration of vitamin E before and after alloxan was accompanied by a significant decrease of both MDA level and AI comparing to untreated diabetic rats.
Conclusions: Our study suggests that vitamin E supplementation may improve the increased platelet adhesion as a consequence of an increased oxidative stress and therefore the incidence of diabetic angiopathy may be reduced.