In this study we examined the effect of experimental diabetes and of treatment with an aldose reductase inhibitor on the level of sulfation of glomerular basement membrane (GBM) heparan sulfate, the principal glycosaminoglycan in this extracellular matrix. Glycosaminoglycans were isolated from GBM purified from control, streptozocin-induced diabetic, and sorbinil-treated diabetic rats and analyzed for sulfate and uronate content. Glomerular yields from diabetic kidneys were greater than those from control animals, but the amount of sulfate per glomerulus in diabetic samples, both untreated and sorbinil treated, did not differ significantly from that in control samples. However, the sulfate-to-uronate ratio in heparan sulfate isolated from diabetic GBM (0.34 +/- 0.08) was significantly less than in control samples (0.69 +/- 0.11), and treatment of diabetic rats with an aldose reductase inhibitor did not correct this reduced ratio (0.36 +/- 0.06). The results indicate that there is an undersulfation of heparan sulfate of GBM in experimental diabetes, an abnormality that may contribute to loss of anionic sites and decreased charge selectivity of the glomerular filtration barrier. The findings further suggest that this abnormality results from disturbances in glycosaminoglycan synthesis and/or metabolism in diabetes that are independent of polyol-pathway activation in the renal glomerulus.
Sorbitol accumulation, myo-inositol depletion, and reduced Na+-K+-ATPase activity have been identified in experimental diabetes in several tissues in which diabetic complications occur. However, a reduction in renal Na+-K+-ATPase activity has not been universally reported, prompting us to examine the influence of diabetes duration on the activity of this enzyme complex in isolated glomeruli. Additionally, we examined the ability of the aldose reductase inhibitor sorbinil to directly stimulate glomerular Na+-K+-ATPase activity in vitro, an area of interest in view of the central position that the ability of sorbinil to restore Na+-K+-ATPase activity in vivo occupies in the interpretive scheme that links associated changes in sorbitol, myo-inositol, and Na+-K+-ATPase to enhanced polyol-pathway activity. Glomerular Na+-K+-ATPase activity was significantly decreased in rats with acute (less than 18 days) streptozocin-induced diabetes but was significantly greater than control values in rats with more chronic (greater than 32 days) diabetes. In vitro addition of sorbinil (1 x 10(-7) M) directly stimulated Na+-K+-ATPase in control (0.627 +/- 0.090 vs. 0.843 +/- 0.098 mumol P1.mg-1.min-1) but not diabetic glomeruli. These results indicate that the time of examination after induction of diabetes critically influences glomerular Na+-K+-ATPase activity and suggest that sorbinil, at least in normal glomerular tissue, has a membrane-associated effect that may be independent of its aldose reductase-inhibiting property.
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