Abstract
Erythrocyte sodium-hydrogen antiport activity was measured by Odov's method in 36 healthy volunteers (18 with negative, 18 with positive family history
of hypertension) and 52 subjects with type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus:
29 patients were without known diabetic complications, 23 patients with microangiopathy
(10 with diabetic retinopathy, 13 with ‘incipient’ diabetic nephropathy). Normotensive
healthy adults had similar antiport activities independently of a positive or negative
family history of hypertension (6.45 ± 2.61 vs. 5.80 ± 3.07 mmol/l of cells per h,
respectively). Sodium-hydrogen antiport resulted 8.38 ± 3.91 mmol/l of cells per h
in the 29 uncomplicated diabetic patients, significantly higher (p < 0.05) compared
to healthy subjects, both without and with family hypertension. Complicated diabetics
confirmed to have an exchange rate higher than healthy controls (8.18 ± 2.50 mmol/l
of cells per h, p < 0.01): patients with retinopathy showed the highest antipoit activity
(8.96 ± 2.95 mmol/l of cells per h, p < 0.01), while patients with nephropathy had
milder antiport overactivity (7.58 ± 2.02 mmol/l of cells per h), not significantly
different from either uncomplicated diabetics or healthy controls. Thus, an increased
sodium-hydrogen exchanage rate in peripheral erythrocytes does not seem to be an early
indicator of diabetic nephropathy.
Key words
Erythrocyte Na-H Exchange - Family Hypertensive History - Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus
