The effect of acute lowering of arterial blood pressure upon kidney function in nephropathy was studied in 13 patients with long-term Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. Ten normal subjects (six normotensive and four hypertensive) and five short-term Type 1 diabetic patients without nephropathy served as controls. Renal function was assessed by glomerular filtration rate (single bolus 51Cr-EDTA technique) and urinary albumin excretion rate (radial immunodiffusion). The study was performed twice within 2 weeks, with the subjects receiving an intravenous injection of either clonidine (225 micrograms) or saline (0.154 mmol/l). The arterial blood pressure was similar in the diabetic patients with nephropathy (mean 136 +/- 11 divided by 88 +/- mmHg) and in the non-diabetic control subjects (mean 140 +/- 25 divided by 92 +/- 15 mmHg). The clonidine injection induced similar reductions in mean arterial blood pressure in all three groups (16-18 mmHg). While glomerular filtration rate and urinary albumin excretion rate remained unchanged in both control groups after clonidine injection, glomerular filtration rate diminished from 78 to 71 ml/min per 1.73 m2 (p les than 0.01), and urinary albumin excretion declined from 1707 to 938 micrograms/min (p less than 0.01) in the patients with diabetic nephropathy. Our results suggest that an intrinsic vascular (arteriolar) mechanism underlying the normal autoregulation of glomerular filtration rate, i.e. the relative constancy of glomerular filtration rate that occurs in response to rather wide variations in perfusion pressure, is defective in diabetic nephropathy.
Kidney function and size were studied in seven well-controlled male Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients before and after administration of highly purified human growth hormone for one week. Glomerular filtration rate, renal plasma flow (steady state infusion technique with urinary collections using 125I-iothalamate and 131I-hippuran), kidney size (ultrasonic scanning) and urinary excretion rates of albumin and beta-2-microglobulin were measured. Highly purified growth hormone was injected subcutaneously, 2 IU in the morning and 4 IU in the evening. The growth hormone dosage applied induced an elevation in plasma growth hormone concentration from the normal level seen in these very well controlled diabetics to levels within the range previously demonstrated in normally controlled Type 1 diabetic patients. During the week of growth hormone administration, glycaemic control was maintained unchanged by increasing the insulin dose by 79 +/- 9% (mean +/- SEM). Glomerular filtration rate increased from 122 +/- 3 to 131 +/- 3 ml/min X 1.73 m2 (p less than 0.05) and renal plasma flow increased from 535 +/- 10 to 569 +/- 22 ml/min x 1.73 m2 (p less than 0.05). Kidney size changed from 128 +/- 5 to 133 +/- 5 ml/1.73 m2 (NS). Urinary excretion rates of albumin and beta-2-microglobulin were unchanged. The present findings suggest that the growth hormone elevation typically found in Type 1 diabetic patients with reasonable clinical control, contributes to the enhanced glomerular filtration rate and renal plasma flow present in that disease.
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