Endothelin-1 and big endothelin-1 in NIDDM patients with and without microangiopathy
1994
Abstract To examine a possible role for
endothelin-1 in the pathophysiology of diabetic
microangiopathy, we measured plasma levels of
endothelin-1 and big
endothelin-1, a precursor peptide of
endothelin-1, in 33 untreated patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. There was no significant difference among the mean plasma
endothelin-1 concentrations in 18 patients with
microangiopathy, in 15 patients without
microangiopathyand in 33 age-matched normal subjects. In contrast, the mean plasma big
endothelin-1 concentration in patients with
microangiopathywas significantly higher than in those without
microangiopathyor in normal subjects. As a consequence, the mean big
endothelin-1 to
endothelin-1 ratio in patients with
microangiopathywas significantly higher than in the other two groups. There was no significant correlation between plasma levels of
endothelin-1 or big
endothelin-1 and fasting blood glucose, HbA 1c , mean blood pressure, or period of duration of diabetes mellitus in the patient groups. The results indicate that elevation of plasma big
endothelin-1 levels with diminished conversion of big
endothelin-1 to
endothelin-1 is associated with diabetic
microangiopathy, which may be the effect rather than the cause of endothelial dysfunction.
Keywords:
-
Correction
-
Source
-
Cite
-
Save
23
References
14
Citations
NaN
KQI