Study of serum nitric oxide (no) in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients having normoalbuminuria and microalbuminuria in Central India

Introduction: Nitric oxide (NO) is known as a mediator in a broad cluster of biological systems. NO is the endothelium-derived relaxing factor, which causes vasodilation by relaxing vascular smooth muscle. This role of NO plays an important role of diabetic nephropathy in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) Aims: To assess serum nitric oxide levels among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients having normoalbuminuria and microalbuminuria. Setting and Design: This cross sectional study was carried out at Department of Biochemistry in a tertiary care rural hospital in Central India with 200 diagnosed patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: 24 hr urine albumin was done in all the patients. Based on the concentration of albumin in urine, patients were categorised in two groups, group 1 had normoalbuminuria (i.e. Urine Albumin <20 mg/ 24 hr) and group 2 had microalbuminuria (i.e. Urine Albumin >20 to <300 mg/24 hr). Then, serum NO was assessed and compared in these groups. Results: Serum NO levels were significantly raised (p <0.05) in Group 2 as compared to Group 1. Conclusion: Our observations suggest that serum NO levels measurement has a good detection potential for early stages of diabetic nephropathy manifested in the form of microalbuminuria in Type 2 DM.