Plasma endothelin-1 levels in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus patients with macrovascular disease.
BACKGROUND
Endothelin-1 (ET-1) with its well-known vasoconstrictive and mitogenic action and through its interaction with insulin, blood glucose, and lipids might play an important role in the accelerated atherogenic process in diabetes mellitus.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether ET-1 levels are indicative of macrovascular disease in diabetes mellitus.


METHODS
In the present cross-sectional study, plasma ET-1 concentrations were measured in members of three groups. The first group consisted of 20 patients (15 men and five women; aged 56.3 +/- 12.5 years) with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease, the second group of 20 patients (16 men and four women, aged 56.9 +/- 11.2 years) with coronary artery disease only, and the third group of 10 healthy subjects who served as controls. ET-1 levels were determined by a radioimmunoassay.


RESULTS
The mean plasma ET-1 levels for the three groups were 3.59 +/- 1.88, 4.31 +/- 1.32, and 4.42 +/- 1.01 pmol/l respectively, and there was no statistically significant difference among the groups (P = 0.23). There was also no correlation between the plasma ET-1 concentration and age, sex, body mass index, triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-, low- and very-low density lipoprotein levels, for all groups, and, for the first group, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), the duration of diabetes mellitus.


CONCLUSIONS
The plasma ET-1 concentration is not elevated in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients with macrovascular disease, which might reflect the fact that its action occurs in a paracrine or an autocrine rather than an endocrine fashion and suggests that ET-1 levels are not necessarily indicative of macrovascular disease in diabetes mellitus.
Güvener
N
N
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Hacettepe, Ankara, Turkey.
Aytemir
K
K
Aksöyek
S
S
Gedik
O
O
D000368:Aged; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000097:blood; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D019332:Endothelin-1