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Cardiovascular Research 2001 52(2):299-305; doi:10.1016/S0008-6363(01)00379-0
© 2001 by European Society of Cardiology
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Copyright © 2001, European Society of Cardiology

Impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation in type 2 diabetes mellitus and the lack of effect of simvastatin

Marcel A van de Reea,*, Menno V Huismana, Frits H de Manb, Jan C van der Vijverc, A.Edo Meindersa and Gerard J Blauwa

aDepartment of General Internal Medicine, C1-R41, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands
bDepartment of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
cDepartment of Internal Medicine, Leyenburg Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +31-71-526-2085; fax: +31-84-874-7741 ree{at}lumc.nl

Objective: Although type 2 diabetes is recognized as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular disease is associated with endothelial dysfunction, the influence of type 2 diabetes per se on the endothelial function is controversial. HMG-CoA-reductase inhibitors have been shown to have short-term beneficial effects on endothelial dysfunction among patients with dyslipidemia or cardiovascular disease. The effect of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors on the endothelial function in diabetes is largely unknown. Methods: Seventeen patients with type 2 diabetes, free of cardiovascular disease and no other cardiovascular risk factors, except for dyslipidemia, were studied together with ten healthy volunteers. The effect of 5-hydroxytryptamine, as an endothelium-dependent vasodilator, and sodium nitroprusside, as an endothelium-independent vasodilator, on the forearm blood flow was measured using venous occlusion plethysmography. Results: 5-Hydroxytryptamine and sodium nitroprusside, infused in the brachial artery, caused a dose-dependent vasodilation. The vasodilator response to 5-hydroxytryptamine was significantly lower among the diabetic patients, 42 and 56%, than among the controls, 73 and 103%, at a dose of 0.3 and 0.9 ng/kg/min, respectively (P<0.05 and P<0.001). Vasodilator responses to sodium nitroprusside were comparable among the diabetic patients and controls. A 6-week treatment with simvastatin 40 mg once daily did not change the vasodilator responses to 5-hydroxytryptamine or sodium nitroprusside among the patients with diabetes. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the endothelial function is impaired in type 2 diabetes and is not restored after a 6-week treatment period with simvastatin 40 mg.

KEYWORDS Cholesterol; Diabetes; Endothelial function; Serotonin (5HT); Statins


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