Interaction of hypertension and diabetes on impairment of endothelial function.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether the interaction of hypertension and diabetes aggravates endothelial dysfunction and leads to smooth muscle dysfunction.


METHODS
Noninvasive methods were used to the investigated patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (2-DM) (Group 1), patients with hypertension (Group 2) and patients with both 2-DM and hypertension (Group 3), as well as a normal control group (Group 4) by studying a brachial artery without evidence of atherosclerotic plaque formation.


RESULTS
Results showed that endothelium-dependent vasodilation decreased significantly in Group 1 (5.74% +/- 3.32%, P < 0.05), Group 2 (4.14% +/- 2.93%, P < 0.01), and Group 3 (2.78% +/- 2.08%, P < 0.001) as compared to the control (9.45% +/- 3.88%). The nitroglycerin-induced vasodilation (smooth muscle function) in Group 3 was significantly decreased as compared to the control group (14.11% +/- 4.63% vs 23.53% +/- 6.77%, P < 0.001), but there were no differences in nitroglycerin-induced vasodilation between Group 1, Group 2 and Group 4. On univariate analysis, a reduced vasodilator response to nitroglycerin was associated with endothelium-dependent vasodilation (r = 0.54, P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that the interaction of 2-DM and hypertension aggravates endothelial dysfunction and further impairs the smooth muscle function.
Ma
L
L
Department of Cardiology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Hunan Medical University, Changsha 410011, China.
Zhao
S
S
Li
J
J
Zhou
Q
Q
Gao
M
M
D000368:Aged; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006940:Hyperemia / Q000503:physiopathology; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D005996:Nitroglycerin / Q000494:pharmacology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000187:drug effects; D014665:Vasodilator Agents / Q000494:pharmacology
D014665:Vasodilator Agents; D005996:Nitroglycerin