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12.4
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Antioxidants
Special Issues
Antioxidants in Prevention and Treatment of Diabetes
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Antioxidants in Prevention and Treatment of Diabetes

A special issue of Antioxidants (ISSN 2076-3921). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Outcomes of Antioxidants and Oxidative Stress".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 510

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Karima Zitouni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Medical and Biomedical Education, St George’s University of London, London SW17 0QT, UK
Interests: metabolic mechanisms of diabetes; type 2 diabetes; antioxidant activity
Dr. Kenneth Earle

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Medical and Biomedical Education, St George’s University of London, London SW17 0QT, UK
Interests: Type 2 diabetes; oxidative stress; antioxidants; glutathione peroxidase; sex differences; cardiovascular risk

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The global diabetes pandemic continues to represent a burden on healthcare systems due to its associated microvascular complications and increased cardiovascular mortality. Significant results have emerged from cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOTs) for newer anti-diabetic agents (SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists), which have demonstrated benefits beyond glucose control by reducing vascular events. This effect is being increasingly linked to a reduction in oxidative stress, and there is significant experimental evidence that oxidative stress plays a major role in diabetes and its complications.

However, clinical trials of direct antioxidant therapies have yielded conflicting results regarding the prevention of vascular disease, despite showing promise in specific patient sub-groups. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the vulnerability of individuals with type 2 diabetes, particularly those with insulin resistance or overweight or from deprived backgrounds. A new hypothesis suggests that severe disease in these groups may be connected to dysregulated antioxidant defenses. Consequently, a key future research aim is to achieve the targeted modulation of the body's antioxidant pathways to develop new treatments for diabetic vasculopathy.

Dr. Karima Zitouni
Dr. Kenneth Earle
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antioxidants is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • diabetic vasculopathy
  • oxidative stress
  • type 2 diabetes
  • antioxidant defenses

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Review

26 pages, 3143 KB  
Review
Redox-Driven Blood–Nerve Barrier Dysfunction in Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Opportunities
by Wei-Hsiu Huang and Chih-Shung Wong
Antioxidants 2026, 15(6), 670; https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox15060670 - 26 May 2026
Abstract
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) remains a leading cause of disability in diabetes, yet current care is largely symptomatic and does not directly address early neurovascular-immune pathology. This narrative review synthesizes clinical, redox, vascular, and immunological evidence into a peripheral nerve neurovascular unit (PNVU)/blood–nerve [...] Read more.
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) remains a leading cause of disability in diabetes, yet current care is largely symptomatic and does not directly address early neurovascular-immune pathology. This narrative review synthesizes clinical, redox, vascular, and immunological evidence into a peripheral nerve neurovascular unit (PNVU)/blood–nerve barrier (BNB)-centered framework for DPN. First, the review outlines the diagnostic and translational endpoint landscape of DPN, emphasizing that commonly used clinical, neurophysiological, small-fiber, and imaging-based tools capture important disease domains but do not directly assess early BNB dysfunction. It then reviews the anatomical and functional basis of the PNVU and BNB, including endoneurial microvascular endothelial cells, pericytes, basement membrane components, immune cells, and tight-junction proteins. Next, it discusses how chronic hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia drive metabolic-to-vascular coupling, redox imbalance, antioxidant defense failure, advanced glycation end products (AGEs), receptor for AGEs (RAGE), and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling, endothelial activation, leukocyte recruitment, macrophage polarization, and junctional disassembly, culminating in increased BNB permeability and exposure of peripheral nerves to pro-inflammatory and neurotoxic mediators. Finally, it evaluates incretin-based therapies—including glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4 inhibitors, DPP-4is), and emerging multi-agonists—as potential modulators of oxidative and inflammatory stress within this framework. Although semaglutide and related agents show mechanistic plausibility and preclinical promise, direct evidence for incretin-mediated BNB stabilization in human DPN remains limited. By reframing DPN as a redox-driven neurovascular-immune disorder, this review highlights barrier-focused biomarkers, translational endpoints, and hypothesis-generating therapeutic opportunities that require clinical validation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antioxidants in Prevention and Treatment of Diabetes)
18 pages, 500 KB  
Review
Antioxidants in Menopausal Transition and Male Late-Onset Hypogonadism for the Prevention of Diabetes
by Maria Karaflou, Athina Kaprara and Dimitrios G. Goulis
Antioxidants 2026, 15(6), 659; https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox15060659 - 24 May 2026
Abstract
In the modern day, despite advances in medicine and the prolongation of life expectancy, the age of menopause and male late-onset hypogonadism remains the same. This narrative review describes the physiology of the human reproductive system in females and males based on clinical [...] Read more.
In the modern day, despite advances in medicine and the prolongation of life expectancy, the age of menopause and male late-onset hypogonadism remains the same. This narrative review describes the physiology of the human reproductive system in females and males based on clinical and experimental studies. It explores the impact of gonadal aging and reproductive hormone withdrawal on the development of insulin resistance and diabetes and summarizes the use of antioxidants for the prevention of diabetes during menopausal transition and male late-onset hypogonadism. Maintaining high antioxidant capacity in these periods prevents the metabolic consequences of oxidative stress and improves health span trajectories. In clinical practice, we conclude that antioxidants should be used with caution to avoid the ‘antioxidant paradox’. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antioxidants in Prevention and Treatment of Diabetes)
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