The insulin anti-aggregating effect is preserved in lean NIDDM; platelet sensitivity to GTN in preserved in lean NIDDM but is reduced in the insulin-resistant states of obesity and obese NIDDM. Resistance to nitrates, therefore, could be considered another feature of the insulin-resistance syndrome.

To investigate the effects of insulin on platelets in obesity and in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM)--classic insulin-resistant states--we determined ADP-induced platelet aggregation and platelet cGMP (guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate) content in platelet-rich plasma obtained from nine obese subjects and nine age-matched healthy volunteers and from eight NIDDM obese patients and nine age-matched healthy volunteers after a 3-min incubation with human recombinant insulin (0, 240, 480, 960, and 1,920 pmol/l). Platelet aggregation was evaluated using different ADP doses to measure the ADP concentration determined on the basis of a dose-response curve necessary to elicit a maximal aggregation of 50% (ED50). Insulin induced a dose-dependent decrease of platelet aggregation to ADP (P = 0.0001) in healthy subjects. A significant effect was evident starting from an insulin concentration of 240 pmol/l. On the contrary, in insulin-resistant subjects, insulin reduced platelet sensitivity to ADP only at a concentration of 1,920 pmol/l. When ADP ED50 values obtained in platelet-rich plasma incubated with insulin were expressed in percentage of the ADP ED50 values obtained in platelet-rich plasma without insulin, considered as 100%, we observed that ADP ED50 with 1,920 pmol/l insulin was 153.6 +/- 13.2% in the younger healthy subject group (P = 0.004), 150.0 +/- 3.8% in the older healthy subject group (P = 0.0001), 116.1 +/- 6.1% in obese subjects (P = 0.031), and 120.0 +/- 8.6% in NIDDM patients (P = 0.05). In healthy subjects, insulin induced a dose-dependent increase of platelet cGMP (P = 0.0001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Summary.The European NIDDM Policy Group states that the lowest target for good control of Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetic patients is a blood glucose level 4.4 mmol/1, both fasting and postprandially. The aim of this study is to evaluate the occurrence and temporal distribution of values under this target in the clinical records of 463 Type 2 diabetic patients, treated by diet or diet and oral hypoglycaemic agents, monitored for at least 2 years. The protocol includes blood glucose measurements after overnight fasting (08.00 hours), 120-150 rain after breakfast (11.00 hours) and 120 and 240 min after lunch (14.00 and 16.00 hours). At least one blood glucose concentration of less than 4.4 mmol/1 was presented by 42% of the patients. The only difference between patients showing and not showing glycaemic levels under this target was the higher percentage on oral hypoglycaemic agents in the first group (68.4% vs 56.9% ,p = 0.016). We considered 299 blood glucose profiles containing at least one value of less than 4.4 retool/l, observing that a) 46.9% of profiles from patients treated by diet alone and 68.7% of profiles from patients treated both by diet and oral hypoglycaemic agents presented the lowest blood glucose concentration at 16.00 hours (p = 0.002). b) No correlation existed between fasting blood glucose and values at 16.00 hours in profiles from diet-treated patients, whereas a negative correlation was present in patients on diet and oral hypoglycaemic agents, indicating that an excess of oral agents, administered to correct fasting hyperglycaemia, was the cause of the low glycaemic values in the afternoon, c) 37.9% of profiles on a diet and 83.3% of profiles on diet and oral agents showed fasting glucose concentrations > 6.7 mmol/1, the upper limit of good control according to the European NIDDM Policy Group. This indicates that fasting hyperglycaemia does not exclude the occurrence of low glucose values throughout the day and that it is necessary to monitor blood glucose profiles.