Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Diabetes mellitus leads to endothelium dysfunction and an accelerated progression of atherosclerosis. Vascular complications of diabetes mellitus can affect not only large and medium arteries resulting in coronary heart disease and peripheral arteries diseases, but also small vessels leading to retinopathy and nephropathy.

Endothelin-1 is mainly synthesized by the vascular endothelial cells and acts on the vascular smooth muscle. Because of its vasoconstrictor and mitogenic effects it plays a role in the development of vascular diseases. In diabetes mellitus atherosclerosis is accelerated. We summarize the available data of the role of endothelin-1 and ANF, in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus and the development of diabetic complication.

Methods and patients: We analysed 21 diabetic patients, 8 woman and 13 men, with ages (X+DS) 61.3±12.6 years and 8.4±9 years of diabetes evolution. Two were diabetic 1 and 19 type 2. The control group were 34 subjects. ET1 and ANF were measured by RIA.

Results: There were no statistically significant differences between ET-1 and Hba1c levels. (r=0.21; P=0.24).Neither were observated correlation between ANF levels and Hba1c (r=0.05; P: 0.79) nor between ANF and ET-1 (r=0.16 years P=0.43).

There were a weak correlation between microvascular disease and ET-1 level (although not statistically significant), but not with ANF levels.

Conclusion: ET-1 and ANF levels not seems to be affected only by metabolic control of diabetes, measured by Hba1c levels. It is possible that other factor could also influence these endothelium dysfunction markers.