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Not all patients with diabetes develop clinically significant nephropathy and, for this reason, attention has begun to focus on the risk factors for development of this serious complication. These risk factors have not been quantified to the same degree as those factors associated with more common progressive vascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis. However, studies of pathogenesis and clinical and epidemiological surveys of diabetic nephropathy point to numerous risk categories. Glycemic control, genetic and familial predispositions, renal and glomerular enlargement, glomerular hyperfiltration, and capillary and systemic hypertension can be invoked as contributors to this disease process. This review focuses on hemodynamic alterations and their role in the development and progression of diabetic nephropathy. Increases in GFR, largely driven by increases in plasma flow and capillary pressure, appear in early IDDM and NIDDM. This abnormality of renal vascular control probably is derived from alterations in several vasoactive control systems. In addition, the elevations in capillary pressure may be damaging to the glomerular capillaries. Arterial hypertension is not necessarily present before clinical nephropathy appears; however, it is a usual concomitant of progressive diabetic renal disease. The strongest evidences for the roles of altered systemic and renal hemodynamics in the progression of diabetic renal disease are clinical and experimental studies demonstrating attenuation of the disease process by lowering systemic and capillary pressures with antihypertensive agents, and dietary and glycemic modifications. Thus, although multiple factors probably interact to determine risk for the development of diabetic nephropathy, hemodynamic forces are a particularly important contributor and are especially amenable to therapeutic intervention.
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PMID:Diabetic nephropathy. Metabolic versus hemodynamic considerations. 139 17

The aging kidney suffers reduction both in mass and in glomerular filtration rate. These changes may be totally or partially due to atherosclerosis and hypertension, which reduce renal blood flow. Superimposed on these processes, and perhaps responsible for primary loss of renal mass irrespective of renal vascular disease, is glomerular damage and involution that is a consequence of adaptive increases in glomerular perfusion pressure that occurs as the number of nephrons decline with age. The data available at this time do not allow us to distinguish between these two potential mechanisms of renal senescence. The decline in GFR is in turn responsible for reduced renal acidification and the reduced renal clearance of drugs that are normally removed by the kidney. Certain renal functions, however, are depressed to a greater extent than is GFR. Both the ability to maximally dilute the urine and to maximally concentrate it are controlled by serum ADH concentrations and by the action of that hormone on the collecting duct. Aged rats do not maximally secrete ADH under conditions of dehydration and the effect of ADH on the kidney is also attenuated. Elderly humans also cannot maximally suppress ADH secretion when serum osmolality is reduced. Likewise, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone axis is poorly responsive to volume depletion in aging subjects. As a result, elderly individuals cannot maximally retain sodium under conditions of plasma volume contraction out of proportion to reduction in GFR. The kidney is the site of vitamin D1 hydroxylation. Hydroxylation of vitamin D is reduced out of proportion to any reduction in GFR in the rat. There are no data as yet available on the effect of aging and the production of erythropoietin, a principal regulator of red blood cell mass. Neither are there data available on changes that might occur with advancing age in the ability of the aging kidney to metabolize various hormones, such as parathyroid hormone, glucagon, and insulin. The mechanisms and the full biochemical and physiologic consequences of renal senescence remain to be fully elucidated.
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PMID:The aging kidney. 391

It is a matter of concern that the elderly donor may have increased risks in the peri-operative period due to age-related changes in various organ. Nephrosclerosis, atherosclerosis and low GFR of an elderly kidney may portend a poor graft outcome. A retrospective analysis of our live related renal transplant program (from June 1989 to December 1993) revealed that 27 of the donors were above 60 years of age. 21 of the recipients have been followed up for more than 1 year. These patients were compared with a cohort of 25 patients (donor age < 45 years) with similar HLA match, immunosuppressive protocol, and follow-up period more than 1 year. Graft survival at 1 year was 86% and 88% in the recipients from elderly and younger donors respectively; 1 patient in the control group died of fulminant sepsis. Mean follow-up was 21.6 months in the study group and 22.8 months in the control group. Allograft function was evaluated by serum creatinine and differential GFR by Tc DTPA scan. Serum creatinine (mg%) was 1.3 +/- 0.2 and 1.4 +/- 0.2 in the study group and 1.3 +/- 0.3, 1.2 +/- 0.3 in the control group at 3 and 12 months respectively. Glomerular filtration rate (ml/min) was 36.5 +/- 11.6 and 43.7 +/- 12.4 in the recipients from elderly donors whereas those from the younger donors had GFR (ml/min) of 40.6 +/- 9.6 and 49.6 +/- 14.2 at 3 and 12 months respectively, GFR continued to improve in both groups with follow-up. There was no difference in incidence or severity of ATN In the two groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Should elderly donors be accepted in a live related renal transplant program? 786 13

In senescence renal function is thought to decline markedly even in the absence of renal disease. It has also been proposed that the changes in renal function with age are not uniform and that confounding factors such as hypertension or atherosclerosis may play a role. We performed a comprehensive study to compare several aspects of renal function in four groups: (i) young healthy normotensive subjects (N = 24; 13 males; mean age 26 +/- 3 years); (ii) elderly healthy normotensive subjects (elderly NT; N = 29; 13 males; 68 +/- 7 years); (iii) elderly treated and untreated hypertensive patients (elderly HT; N = 25; 13 males; 70 +/- 6 years); and (iv) elderly patients with compensated mild to moderate heart failure (elderly HF; N = 14; 6 males; 69 +/- 6 years). Compared to young subjects mean GFR (C(In)) and ERPF (C(PAH)) were significantly lower in the elderly, despite similar mean plasma creatinine levels (young, 121 +/- 11, 650 +/- 85 ml/min/1.73 m2; elderly NT, 103 +/- 11, 486 +/- 102; elderly HT, 103 +/- 13, 427 +/- 55; elderly HF, 92 +/- 14, 377 +/- 103). Nevertheless, GFR was within the normal range in the majority of elderly NT and HT, but not in elderly HF. ERPF was significantly lower in elderly HT as compared with elderly NT, and still lower in elderly HF. Mean renovascular resistance and filtration fraction were significantly higher in the elderly, particularly in elderly HT and HF as compared with the young. Mean fractional excretion of Na+ was similar in all groups studied, but the lithium clearance was significantly lower in the elderly, suggesting a greater proximal and less distal sodium reabsorption in senescence. In the elderly, mean PTH concentration and urinary excretion of pyridoline cross-links were significantly higher and mean 25-(OH)D3, calcitriol and phosphate concentrations significantly lower; the correlation between PTH and GFR was significant (r = -0.432, P < 0.001). The results document that the decrease in renal hemodynamics with senescence is less marked than suggested by some studies using less stringent methodology and inclusion criteria. Comorbid conditions confound renal function in the elderly. Age-associated changes in renal hemodynamics are accompanied by significant alterations of renal hormones and of renal sodium handling.
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PMID:Renal function in the elderly: impact of hypertension and cardiac function. 908 86

Premature atherosclerosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in chronic renal failure (CRF). Endothelial dysfunction is a key early event in atherogenesis. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of CRF on endothelial function using physiological and biochemical measures. To focus on the effect of CRF itself, 23 children (matched with 23 controls for age and vessel diameter) were selected because they were normotensive, had normal total cholesterol (TC) levels, and were not on vasoactive drugs. Their mean (range) age was 12.0 (7.8 to 17.0) years; GFR 17.5 (8.8 to 34.5) ml/min/1.73 m2. The physiology of endothelial function in the brachial artery was assessed using high resolution ultrasound by measuring its diameter at rest, during reactive hyperemia (endothelium dependent dilation) and after sublingual glyceryl trinitrate (GTN; endothelium independent dilation). Nitric oxide (NO) metabolites and endogenous NO synthetase (eNOS) inhibitors were measured as an assessment of endothelial metabolism. Brachial artery dilation to flow [FMD, mean (SEM)%] was reduced in CRF to 4.9 (0.6) and controls 8.6 (0.6), P < 0.0001. In contrast, the response to GTN was similar in both groups: CRF 25.1 (1.6), controls 23.3 (1.2), P = 0.31. There was no difference in TC, low density lipoprotein (LDL) or high density lipoprotein (HDL) between the patients and the controls. Triglycerides (TG) were higher in the patients but within the normal range. Antibodies against oxidized LDL (ox-LDL) were high in CRF. Endogenous NOS inhibitors were high in CRF, and intermediate NO metabolites were low. There was no correlation between FMD of the brachial artery and lipid subfractions, or with NO metabolites or eNOS inhibitors. Endothelium dependent dilation of the brachial artery is impaired in children with CRF who do not have co-existing risk factors for atherosclerosis. This may represent early evidence of atherogenic vascular disease.
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PMID:Physiology and biochemistry of endothelial function in children with chronic renal failure. 926 3

To evaluate the metabolic effects of long-term treatment with recombinant human (rh) GH in short children with chronic renal failure (CRF), annual oral glucose tolerance tests (oGTT) during rhGH therapy for up to 5 y in 53 prepubertal children with CRF on conservative treatment, dialysis, and after renal transplantation were compared with that of 12 age-matched children treated with rhGH for idiopathic short stature. At the start of rhGH treatment, fasting values of glucose, insulin, glycosylated Hb A (HbA1C), triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose, and insulin responses during oGTT were significantly elevated in all patient groups compared with control subjects (p < 0.001). In the total population, fasting and 2-h postprandial glucose concentrations were inversely correlated with GFR and positively with age and methylprednisolone dosage in transplanted patients. Fasting insulin levels were positively correlated with body mass index and inversely with GFR. RhGH treatment was not associated with a change in fasting or stimulated glucose concentrations in any treatment group throughout the observation period. In contrast, serum insulin levels increased during the first treatment year in all groups, resulting in a more marked elevation of integrated insulin levels in transplant (1402 +/- 179 pM) and dialysis (1025 +/- 114 pM) patients compared with conservatively treated patients (829 +/- 94 pM), and control subjects (719 +/- 89 pM) (p < 0.01). Hyperinsulinemia persisted in all treatment groups for up to 5 y of follow-up. In conclusion, age, renal function, and obesity are the major independent predictors of glucose tolerance in children with CRF. Long-term rhGH treatment does not affect glucose tolerance, but aggravates the preexisting hyperinsulinemia in children with end-stage renal disease. In concert with the dyslipidemia of uremia, the rhGH-promoted hyperinsulinemia may contribute to the long-term risk for premature atherosclerosis in patients with childhood onset CRF.
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PMID:Metabolic effects of long-term growth hormone treatment in prepubertal children with chronic renal failure and after kidney transplantation. The German Study Group for Growth Hormone Treatment in Chronic Renal Failure. 947 86

We performed a retrospective study on 26 patients with moderate renal failure (mean GFR = 51 +/- 21 ml min-1 1.73 m-2), hypertension and atherosclerosis. Apart from three patients who had completely normal renal Doppler ultrasonography, all patients underwent renal angiography. Three groups of kidneys with different atherosclerotic renal artery involvement were identified: Group 1, 24 kidneys with no renal artery stenosis (RAS); Group 2, 18 kidneys with mild (> 25% and < 50% diameter) RAS; and Group 3, 10 kidneys with moderate (> 50% diameter) RAS. We used a two-day protocol with frusemide plus enalapril 99Tcm-MAG3 scintigraphy. The mean parenchymal transit time (MPTT), time to the maximum activity (time to peak) of the renal curve (Tmax), residual activity and split renal uptake were evaluated. The measured parameters did not differ before and after enalapril in Group 1 or in Group 2. In Group 3, MPTT and residual activity differed significantly (P < 0.025) before and after enalapril. The Tmax before and after enalapril, MPTT before and after enalapril and residual activity after enalapril differed significantly (P < 0.05) between Groups 1 and 3 and between Groups 2 and 3. Threshold values were obtained to maximize diagnostic accuracy. The Tmax, MPTT and residual activity after enalapril gave satisfactory results, and MPTT performed best with a 75% positive predictive value and a 98% negative predictive value for the diagnosis of renal artery stenosis. We conclude that MPTT, measured after enalapril administration, is a useful parameter to detect renal artery stenosis in patients with hypertension, atherosclerosis and moderate renal insufficiency.
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PMID:Enalapril plus frusemide MAG3 scintigraphy in hypertensive patients with atherosclerosis and moderate renal insufficiency. 988 3

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of renal artery stenosis (RAS) correction in hypertensive patients on 24 h SBP, 24 h DBP, creatinine clearance (GFR), urinary albumin excretion (UAE) and LV morphology and mass (LVMI). A total of 61 hypertensive patients with RAS undergoing PTRA and/or surgical treatment entered the prospective study. The final analysis was done in 44 patients (age range 45.8 +/- 16.2 years) with RAS (atherosclerosis (ASC) 31 patients, fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) 12 patients, arteritis 1 patient) who underwent PTRA (34 patients) or surgical treatment (10 patients) and presented no Doppler signs of restenosis (or a new stenosis) during 1-year observation. The pre-interventional assessment repeated after 6 and 12 months included ABPM, GFR, UAE and echocardiography. The results were analysed in the combined group (CG) and in according aetiology. 24 h SBP and 24 h DBP decreased in all groups 6 months post-intervention and did not change further. Cure of HT was observed in 35% and 29% of ASC patients at 6 and 12 months respectively; and in 58% of FMD patients. Failure rate at 12 months was 48% in ASC against 25% in FMD. The mean GFR in CG was higher 12 months after intervention. The increase in GFR was noted in 45% of patients, the decrease in 25% of patients at 12 months. Normal values of UAE were found in 71% of patients, pre- and post-intervention alike. Mean LVMI and number of patients with LVH in CG decreased already during the initial 6 months post-intervention and did not change further. In conclusion, correction of RAS leads to cure of or improved control of hypertension in the majority of the patients with FMD, but in the ASC group in about half of cases no BP cure or improvement was seen. The renal function was improved or stable in two-thirds of patients after revascularization. Successful renal revascularization was followed by regression of LVH, which was evident within 6 months post-intervention.
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PMID:Effects of the correction of renal artery stenosis on blood pressure, renal function and left ventricular morphology. 1059 91

In patients with uremia, increased blood concentrations of the endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitor asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) have been linked to the severity of atherosclerosis and to excess cardiovascular mortality. The ADMA levels and several traditional cardiovascular risk factors were assessed in 44 untreated nonsmoking patients with confirmed primary chronic renal disease at different stages of renal disease. True GFR was assessed by means of the inulin-clearance technique. For comparison, nonsmoking subjects matched with respect to age, gender, and body-mass index were examined. Mean plasma ADMA concentration was markedly higher (P < 0.0001) in all patients combined (4.2 +/- 0.9 micromol/L) than in control subjects (n = 16; age 45 +/- 10 yr; serum creatinine 1.0 +/- 0.1 mg/dl; ADMA 1.4 +/- 0.7 micromol/L). However, mean ADMA levels were similar in patients with normal renal function (n = 16; age 41 +/- 9 yr; serum creatinine 1.1 +/- 0.1 mg/dl; GFR 120 +/- 14 ml x min(-1) x 1.73 m2; ADMA 4.0 +/- 0.7 micromol/L), in patients with moderate renal failure (n = 15; 47 +/- 7 yr; 1.8 +/- 0.3 mg/dl; 65 +/- 10 ml x min(-1) x 1.73 m2; 3.8 +/- 0.6 micromol/L) and in patients with advanced renal failure (n = 13; 46 +/- 9 yr; 4.2 +/- 0.9 mg/dl; 25 +/- 4 ml x min(-1) x 1.73 m2; 4.7 +/- 1.2 micromol/L). Furthermore, ADMA levels were increased to the same extent in normotensive (n = 17; 4.0 +/- 0.8 micromol/L) and in hypertensive (n = 27; 4.2 +/- 0.9 micromol/L) patients. In contrast to ADMA, mean total plasma homocysteine concentration were similar in control subjects (10.6 +/- 2.9 micromol/L) and in patients with normal GFR (11.0 +/- 2.9 micromol/L), but were significantly higher in patients with moderate renal failure (17.7 +/- 4.1 micromol/L) and particularly in patients with advanced renal failure (28.2 +/- 10.6 micromol/L). Finally, mean total serum cholesterol concentrations were comparable in the control group and in the three groups of patients with renal disease. In contrast to several traditional cardiovascular risk factors, markedly increased blood concentrations of ADMA, a putative biochemical marker of atherosclerosis, are present even in nonsmoking patients without diabetes with incipient primary renal disease. Thus, the early increase of ADMA levels may be of relevance for the excess cardiovascular morbidity and mortality due to arterio- and atherosclerotic complications in patients with renal disease.
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PMID:Marked increase of asymmetric dimethylarginine in patients with incipient primary chronic renal disease. 1175 34

The most important factor that prevents the progression of renal damage in diabetes mellitus, beside the improvement of blood glucose control, is tight BP control. The tenet of tight BP control may be defined as the lowest BP level one can accomplish using antihypertensive therapy that is at the same time compatible with the absence of untoward side effects. In fact, both the Framingham Heart Study in nondiabetic normal subjects and the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study in type 2 diabetic patients showed that systolic values as low as 108 to 111 mmHg and diastolic values as low as 70 to 71 mmHg are significantly associated with decreased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. However, 45 to 50% of the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension have systolic BP levels above 140 mmHg during antihypertensive therapy, particularly when using monotherapy. Thus the issue regarding the choice of which drugs one should use to treat hypertension became critical from a clinical point of view. Pharmaceutical compounds, which inhibit the renin-angiotensin system, have become the first-choice treatment in patients with diabetes mellitus and incipient and advanced renal complications. The present brief review analyzes the effects of calcium channel blockers (CCB) on cardiovascular and renal complications in diabetes mellitus. The review discussed those studies that directly and blindly compared CCB with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and with angiotensin II AT(1) receptor blockers (ARB). Furthermore, size of the population recruited in each trial was used as a criterion of priority in the selection of the reports from the available literature. From the point of view of cardiovascular complications, the results of these studies showed a slightly better benefit of CCB on stroke, whereas ACE inhibitors better prevented the occurrence of myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure. On the other hand, recent observations demonstrated that also ACE inhibitors and ARB are effective in the primary and secondary prevention of stroke, although these studies did not directly compare these compounds with CCB. With regard to the outcome of renal complications, both ARB and ACE inhibitors more effectively prevented the progression of renal damage among the patients with overt nephropathy than CCB. On the contrary, both CCB and ACE inhibitors were equally effective on blunting the decay of GFR in diabetic patients who do not have overt proteinuria. However, ACE inhibitors and ARB more markedly decreased the rate of albumin excretion rate in the range of both microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria. Recent advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis of abnormalities of albumin excretion rate and of atherosclerosis are also discussed. Both mechanical stress, mainly secondary to systolic hypertension, and elevated circulating and tissue levels of angiotensin II, partially independent from each other, cause excessive generation of superoxide compounds. This chain reaction of events in turn leads to disorders of structural components of glomerular filter and to damage of the vascular wall. Systolic BP control (<130 mmHg) is not adequately accomplished in the majority of the patients treated only with ACE inhibitors and ARB, even in association with diuretics. Poor BP control may lead to excessive systemic mechanical stress at the vascular level despite satisfactory inhibition of angiotensin II effects. In conclusion, one can suggest that CCB are useful and often indispensable pharmaceutical compounds, beside ACE inhibitors and ARB, to accomplish tight BP control (<130/85 mmHg), a target that is unlikely to be successfully maintained in the overall population of type 2 diabetic patients only by ACE inhibitors or ARB, as monotherapy. However, ACE inhibitors and ARB might be considered first-choice drugs in the treatment of hypertension in diabetes mellitus, mainly because of a better renoprotection.
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PMID:Cardiovascular and renal protection in type 2 diabetes mellitus: the role of calcium channel blockers. 1246 17


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