Plasma endothelin-1 levels in patients with diabetes mellitus with or without vascular complication.

Plasma endothelin-1 (ET-1) concentrations were measured in 25 patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (11 with angiopathy and 14 without angiopathy) and 21 normal subjects using radioimmunoassay specific to ET-1. Basal plasma immunoreactive (ir) ET-1 levels in diabetic patients with and without angiopathy were 1.73 +/- 0.29 and 1.68 +/- 0.20 pg/ml, respectively. Although high glucose levels may stimulate ET-1 release from vascular endothelial cells in vitro, our data suggest that circulating ET-1 may not be elevated in most diabetic patients with or without angiopathy.