Reduced transcapillary escape of albumin during acute blood pressure-lowering in type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients with nephropathy.

The effect of acute arterial blood pressure lowering upon albumin extravasation was studied in 10 patients with nephropathy and retinopathy due to long-standing Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. The following variables were measured: transcapillary escape rate of albumin (initial disappearance of intravenously injected 125I-labelled human serum albumin), and urinary albumin excretion rate (radial immunodiffusion). The study was performed twice within 2 weeks, with the patients receiving an intravenous injection of either clonidine (225 micrograms) or saline (0.154 mmol/l). The clonidine injection induced the following changes: arterial blood pressure decreased from 134/87 to 107/73 mmHg (p less than 0.01), transcapillary escape rate of albumin declined from 8.1 to 6.7% of the intravascular mass of albumin/h (p less than 0.01), albuminuria diminished from 1434 to 815 micrograms/min (p less than 0.01), and plasma volume raised slightly from 2916 to 2995 ml (p less than 0.05). Our findings demonstrate that the enhanced albumin passage through the wall of the microvasculature characteristically found in long-term Type 1 diabetic patients with clinical microangiopathy is pressure-dependent to a large extent. This may be due to elevated hydrostatic pressure in the microcirculation.