Increased plasma endothelin in NIDDM patients with retinopathy.
OBJECTIVE
To elucidate the significance of ET in diabetic microvascular disease.


METHODS
We determined plasma levels of ir-ET-1 in 25 NIDDM patients without hypertension and/or renal dysfunction.


RESULTS
The plasma levels of ir-ET-1 in NIDDM patients with simple (n = 8) and proliferative (n = 8) retinopathy were 0.58 +/- 0.04 pM and 0.60 +/- 0.04 pM, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in normal, nondiabetic subjects (0.24 +/- 0.02 pM [n = 31]) and NIDDM patients without retinopathy (0.30 +/- 0.05 pM [n = 9]).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that plasma ET-1 is related to diabetic microvascular disease.
Kawamura
M
M
Department of Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical College, Japan.
Ohgawara
H
H
Naruse
M
M
Suzuki
N
N
Iwasaki
N
N
Naruse
K
K
Hori
S
S
Demura
H
H
Omori
Y
Y
D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood*; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000097:blood*; D016232:Endothelins / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values
D015415:Biomarkers; D016232:Endothelins