Background: Sodium pump, also called as Na+/K+ ATPase, considered as membrane protein that can be affected structurally and functionally by the prolonged hyperglycemia in diabetes mellitus. This effected sodium pump may play a vital role in the pathogenesis of polyneuropathy in diabetes mellitus. Aims: To evaluate the sodium pump activity in type 1 diabetic patientsof Lahore city in Pakistan Methods: It was a case control study conducted on type 1 diabetics patients of Lahore, Pakistan and compared with normal healthy individuals of the same city. Diabetic patients were selected from diabetes center of Jinnah Hospital Lahore. We enrolled 40 patients with Type I diabetes mellitus. The control group was 40 healthy subjects enrolled from hospital staff. Plasma glucose level was estimated by using glucose oxidase method. HbA1c was analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method.

Results: A simplified procedure of DeLuise and Flier was used for erythrocyte ghost membrane preparation and this was used for estimation for sodium pump activity. We find no significant correlation between erythrocytes sodium pump activity and body mass index of the two groups. Erythrocytes sodium pump activity was significantly lowered in patients suffering from diabetes type 1 than in normal healthy control as P value was less than 0.05. To investigate what had influenced erythrocytes sodium pump activity in type 1 diabetes mellitus we analyzed all the parameters that could affect the enzymatic activity.

Conclusions: sodium pump activity was significantly lowered in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus type 1. The blood glucose …