Abstract 3556: Diabetic Cardiac and Renal Complications are attenuated in Mice with Conditional Knockout of Endothelin-1 in Vascular Endothelial Cell

High plasma endothelin-1 (ET-1) level has been associated with diabetic cardiovascular and renal complications, which remained prevalent despite good glycemic control. Since endothelial dysfunction, which is characterized by enhanced ET-1 secretion, plays an important role in mediating diabetic complication, we hypothesized that disruption of ET-1 in endothelial cell will be protective against cardiac and renal complication of diabetes. To test this hypothesis, we injected streptozotocin to Vascular Endothelial cell Specific Endothelin-1 Knockout (VEETKO) mice, of which ET-1 expression in major organs including heart and kidney were reduced by 60%, and to their wild type (WT) littermates. Six months of diabetes increased systolic blood pressure (SBP) similarly in both genotypes, with DM-VEETKO mice have remained lower SBP than DM-WT mice (124±1.08 vs. 131.33±1.33 mmHg, p