Utility of Tetrahydrobiopterin Pathway in the Assessment of Diabetic Foot Ulcer: Significant and Complex Interrelations

Table 3

Biochemical analysis of tetrahydrobiopterin pathway.

Determinants	Group I ()	Group II ()	Group III ()	ANOVA test		Post hoc test; comparison between groups
				value	value	value
Serum nitric oxide (μmol/L)				30.346	<0.001	<0.001; <0.001^†; 0.149^‡
Serum neopterin (nmol/L)				52.305	<0.001	0.001; <0.001^†; <0.001^‡
Serum biopterin (nmol/L)				70.874	<0.001	<0.001; <0.001^†; 1.000^‡
Ratio of neopterin/biopterin				7.155	0.009	<0.001; <0.001^†; <0.001^‡

The results are expressed as . Comparison between groups I and II; ^†comparison between groups I and III; ^‡comparison between groups II and III. value was calculated by ANOVA test, post hoc Bonferroni test, for continuous data. Group I: healthy subjects; group II: nondiabetic ulcer patients; and Group III: diabetic ulcer patients.