Totsune Kazuhito, Takahashi Kazuhiro, Arihara Zenei, Sone Masahiko, Ito Sadayoshi, Murakami Osamu
Division of Nephrology, Endocrinology and Vascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8574, Japan.
Clin Sci (Lond). 2003 Jan;104(1):1-5.
Urotensin II (UII) is the most potent vasoconstrictor peptide, whereas it acts as a vasodilator on some arteries. We studied plasma levels of UII in diabetic patients with normal serum creatinine levels (<90 micromol/l) and the expression of UII and its receptor in cultured human vascular endothelial cells. Plasma UII levels were significantly elevated by 1.8-fold in diabetic patients without proteinuria (7.8+/-0.6 fmol/ml; P <0.0001) and 1.7-fold in those with overt proteinuria (7.3+/-0.9 fmol/ml; P =0.0018) when compared with healthy subjects (4.4+/-0.2 fmol/ml). No significant correlation was obtained between plasma UII levels and fasting blood sugar (P =0.631 and P =0.853 in non-proteinuric and proteinuric diabetic patients respectively), glycated haemoglobin levels (P =0.376 and P =0.888 respectively) or serum creatinine levels (P =0.301 and P =0.568 respectively). Reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis showed the expression of mRNAs encoding UII precursor and UII-receptor precursors in cultured human coronary artery endothelial cells and umbilical vein endothelial cells, suggesting that vascular endothelial cells are one of the sources of UII in blood. These findings suggest that elevation of plasma UII levels may be an important background factor in diabetic cardiovascular and organ complications in diabetic subjects without renal failure.
尾加压素II（UII）是最有效的血管收缩肽，而它在某些动脉上却起着血管舒张剂的作用。我们研究了血清肌酐水平正常（<90微摩尔/升）的糖尿病患者的血浆UII水平，以及培养的人血管内皮细胞中UII及其受体的表达。与健康受试者（4.4±0.2飞摩尔/毫升）相比，无蛋白尿的糖尿病患者血浆UII水平显著升高1.8倍（7.8±0.6飞摩尔/毫升；P<0.0001），显性蛋白尿患者升高1.7倍（7.3±0.9飞摩尔/毫升；P =0.0018）。血浆UII水平与空腹血糖（无蛋白尿和有蛋白尿的糖尿病患者分别为P =0.631和P =0.853）、糖化血红蛋白水平（分别为P =0.376和P =0.888）或血清肌酐水平（分别为P =0.301和P =0.568）之间均未获得显著相关性。逆转录聚合酶链反应分析显示，在培养的人冠状动脉内皮细胞和脐静脉内皮细胞中存在编码UII前体和UII受体前体的mRNA表达，提示血管内皮细胞是血液中UII的来源之一。这些发现表明，血浆UII水平升高可能是无肾衰竭的糖尿病患者发生糖尿病心血管和器官并发症的一个重要背景因素。
