Endothelin 1-21 plasma concentrations in children and adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.
This study is based on the hypothesis that endothelins (ETs), which are 21-amino acid peptides with vasoactive and proliferative properties, could be implicated in the development of complications of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in children and adolescents. We determined plasma ET 1-21 concentrations by radioimmunoassay in 59 patients with IDDM (32 male, 27 female) and in 41 healthy siblings (20 male, 21 female) and investigated the association of ET 1-21 concentrations with age, sex, control of diabetes (expressed as % of glycosylated hemoglobin), duration of disease and presence of complications. Plasma ET 1-21 concentrations (mean +/- SEM) were 14.12 +/- 0.30 pg/ml in IDDM and 15.34 +/- 0.47 pg/ml in healthy siblings. The difference was statistically significant (p = 0.01) after controlling for age and sex by multiple logistic regression. In the group with IDDM, analysis of covariance showed duration of disease to be the only variable associated with ET 1-21 values (b = 0.2179 pg/ml/yr, p = 0.04). It is concluded that in youngsters with IDDM ET plasma concentrations are lower than in healthy controls, negatively associated with duration of the disease and not directly implicated in diabetic angiopathy.
Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Athens, Greece.
A
A
Malamitsi-Puchner
E
E
Economou
K
K
Katsouyanni
F
F
Karachaliou
D
D
Delis
C S
CS
Bartsocas
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000097:blood*; D016232:Endothelins / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors
D016232:Endothelins