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Low-dose intravenous dopamine infusion increases renal plasma flow and glomerular filtration rate, stimulates urinary sodium excretion and goes up urinary albumin excretion rate. The aim of the study is to [...]

To evaluate the predictive power of the dopamine test for microalbuminuria in type 1 diabetic patients with no renal involvement was the aim of our study. A low-dose (2.5 [micro]g/kg/min) [...]

The fibrinolytic system is mainly regulated by a balance between tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1). Decreased fibrinolysis is linked with increased PAI-1 and tPA [...]

Endothelium plays a main role in the progression of atherosclerosis being target for risk factors that act synergistically to remodel vascular wall, impair vasorelaxation and disrupt cell permeability. Statins prevent [...]

Both follow-up of patients with diabetic nephropathy as well long term intervention studies require repeated measures of renal function (GER). Iohexol plasma clearance shows excellent agreement with tracers clearance. Agreement [...]

Endothelial behavior is altered in patients with established atherosclerotic disease and in those with risk factors related to insulin resistance (IR) but without overt atherosclerosis. Several data suggest that endothelial [...]

The 4G/5G polymorphism in the promoter of the PAI-1 gene has been related to plasma levels of PAI-1, the main inhibitor of fibrinolysis. PAI-1 level is higher in IDDM patients [...]

Statins improves cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Mechanisms are unclear, but benefits precede changes in the arterial wall. Suggestions for an improvement in endothelial function require substantation. In particular, the effect [...]

Objectives: The aim of this study was to test the effect of high-dose simvastatin therapy on vascular permeability, a key variable in the atherogenic process, and endothelial-mediated vasodilator responses in patients with hypercholesterolemic atherosclerosis.Methods: The transcapillary albumin escape rate (TERalb, the 1-hour decline rate of intravenous 125I-albumin, a measure of macromolecular permeability of capillary endothelium) and forearm vasodilatation (venous plethysmography) to intraarterial acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside (7.5, 15, 30 μg/min and 0.8, 1.6, and 3.2 μg/min respectively, 5 minutes at each rate) to account for endothelium-dependent and independent mechanisms, were measured at baseline and after 1-month simvastatin (40 mg once daily) in 16 hypercholesterolemic (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol >130 mg/dL), atherosclerotic men. Thirteen healthy, untreated subjects were the controls.Results: Baseline TERalb was higher and responsiveness to both acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside was depressed in patients compared with controls. One-month high-dose simvastatin reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 39%, normalized TERalb, and improved local vasomotor responses to acetylcholine, without modifying those to sodium nitroprusside. Changes in TERalb and acetylcholine-mediated vasodilatation were dissociated and unrelated to lipid modifications.Conclusions: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol reduction through 1 month of high-dose simvastatin normalized the exaggerated transvascular albumin leakage of patients with hypercholesterolemic atherosclerosis, perhaps by restoring an exaggerated endothelial permeability, apparently through mechanisms independent of circulating lipids. Improvements in acetylcholine-mediated vasomotion were also evident, but were dissociated from TERalb, demonstrating a heterogeneous behavior of the 2 indices of endothelial function in response to high-dose statin treatment. (Clin Pharmacol Ther 2000;68:427-34.)