Gender, coupled with diabetes, affects vascular disease d...(oxide a potent artery relaxer) and neuro...)

The investigators found that:

• in the early stage of the disease, both male and female diabetics experienced significant decreases in the reactivity (i.e., how responsive the vessel is to a drug) of their blood vessels when exposed to acetylcholine. This occurred independent of the GH injections.

• while female diabetic rats had an increased response to phenylephrine, there was no such change among their male counterparts.

• female controls had a larger change in phenyleprine reactivity in the presence of L-NAME than did diabetic females, indicating that the diabetic females had a reduced level of nitric oxide, which dilates the artery and increases blood flow.

• diabetic males had the opposite reaction of diabetic females when exposed to phenylephrine and L-NAME. The diabetic males also produced more nitric oxide than did their controls.

• all diabetic rats exposed to growth hormone showed an increase in nitric oxide, regardless of gender.

Conclusions

The findings support the researchers hypothesis of the existence of sex-related changes in vascular activity in diabetic animals. While the production of NO is significantly altered in the diabetic rats, the results show that gender and the presence of GH greatly contribute to this vascular dysfunction. According to Mitchell, "These findings show the importance of sex differences to understanding development of vascular problems early in diabetes and has implications on potential sex-specific therapeutic intervention."

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