Uncomplicated type 1 diabetes is associated with increased asymmetric dimethylarginine concentrations.

Abstract

Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) has recently emerged as an independent risk marker for cardiovascular disease, but studies investigating the ADMA levels in type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) are scarce. We aimed to evaluate plasma ADMA, L-arginine concentrations, and L-arginine to ADMA ratio in uncomplicated type 1 diabetic patients and controls. Forty patients with type 1 DM who did not have clinical evidence of vascular complications and 35 healthy controls were included in the study. Plasma ADMA concentrations were higher (2.6 +/- 1.9 vs. 1.7 +/- 0.7 micromol/liter, P < 0.01), and L-arginine levels were lower (79.3 +/- 22.6 vs. 89.6 +/- 19.4 micromol/liter, P < 0.05) in the diabetic group, compared with controls. The L-arginine to ADMA ratio was also lower in the diabetic group (38.7 +/- 17.1 vs. 62.0 +/- 27.9, P < 0.0001). In diabetic patients, logADMA correlated positively with body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.01), fasting blood glucose (P = 0.006), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) (P = 0.01) and negatively with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 0.03). L-arginine to ADMA ratio correlated negatively with BMI (P = 0.004), fasting blood glucose (P = 0.02), and LDL-c (P = 0.01) and positively with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 0.04). In controls, logADMA and L-arginine to ADMA ratio correlated with BMI and LDL-c (P < 0.05). In regression analysis, BMI predicted 15% variance of ADMA levels (P = 0.02). We demonstrated that ADMA increases and L-arginine to ADMA ratio decreases, even before the development of vascular complications in type 1 DM.