There is ample evidence that oxidized lipoproteins exist in vivo, not only in atherosclerotic lesions, but also associated with some experimental models of diabetes. Whether the lipoprotein oxidation is an epiphenomenon of other atherogenic or diabetogenic agents or processes or whether it is causally related to lesion formation in atherosclerosis or other forms of tissue damage in people with diabetes is unresolved. Intense interest in testing these ideas derives from in vitro observations of the ways in which oxidized lipoproteins interact with cells that are unlike the interactions with native lipoproteins. Many of these altered interactions suggest known features of atherosclerotic lesions, and recent data show that antioxidant treatment reduces the progression of vascular lesions. There are reasons to believe that hyperglycemia may worsen lipid and lipoprotein oxidation. If this observation is the case in vivo, and if it is ultimately proved that lipoprotein oxidation facilitates lesion development, these events may help explain the accelerated atherosclerosis suffered by diabetic patients. The multiple pathways for which there is evidence that hyperglycemia may contribute to oxidative events--for example, by enhancing free radical production in stimulated inflammatory cells or by forming glycation products that can propagate free radical events--suggest avenues for further research and may ultimately indicate points for intervention in the various manifestations of the disease.

Diabetes increases the risk of developing atherosclerotic arterial disease significantly. Although elevated glycohemoglobin was shown to be an independent risk factor in older women in the Framingham Heart Study, the relationship between hyperglycemia and macrovascular disease is complicated by the many other factors that influence atherogenesis in nondiabetic people. Studies in vitro suggest that chronic hyperglycemia may accelerate the atherogenic process through excessive glycation of various components of the arterial wall. These data are reviewed critically, and the biochemistry and pharmacological potential of the glycation-inhibitor aminoguanidine is discussed.

Laminin and type IV collagen are two major basement membrane glycoproteins; they are large multidomain macromolecules that are involved in two types of functions. First, they provide the structural framework of all basement membranes, and second, they interact with cell-surface molecules and are key to adhesion, spreading, and proliferation of cells. We summarize experimental evidence that nonenzymatic glucosylation of these two macromolecules in vitro alters their structure, their ability to polymerize, and their ability to promote cell adhesion. Additional studies are needed to document these changes in situ and therefore extend these conclusions to intact basement membranes.

Recent progress in structure elucidation of products of the advanced Maillard reaction now allows probing specifically for the role of this reaction in the pathogenesis of age- and diabetes-related complications. Pyrraline is a glucose-derived advanced glycation end product against which polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies have been raised. Immunohistochemical localization studies revealed that pyrraline is found predominantly in the sclerosed extracellular matrix of glomerular and arteriolar renal tissues from both diabetic and aged nondiabetic individuals. Pentosidine and carboxymethyllysine are Maillard end products derived from both glucose and ascorbate. In addition, pentosidine can be formed from several other sugars under oxidative conditions, and in vitro studies suggest that a common intermediate involving a pentose is a necessary precursor molecule. The highest levels of these advanced Maillard products are generally found in the extracellular matrix, but these products are also present in lens proteins and in proteins with a fast turnover such as plasma proteins. Diabetes, and especially uremia, greatly catalyzes pentosidine formation. Both conditions are characterized by accelerated cataractogenesis, atherosclerosis, and neuropathy, suggesting that molecular damage by advanced Maillard reaction products may be a common mechanism in their development.

Although platelets can contribute to atherosclerosis and its thromboembolic complications in the nondiabetic population, the role of platelets in enhanced vascular disease in the diabetic population remains unclear. Most studies indicate that platelet function in vitro is enhanced in platelets from people and animals with diabetes, and the mechanisms are being identified. There remains some controversy about whether platelet changes occur before, and therefore could contribute to, vascular complications or whether they are secondary to vascular disease. It is possible that only intervention trials to determine if inhibiting platelet function limits the progression of vascular disease in diabetic patients will definitively answer this question. The earlier premise that enhanced activity of the arachidonate pathway is responsible for the hypersensitivity of platelets from diabetic humans needs to be modified to recognize that additional mechanisms are involved in platelet activation and are modified in people with diabetes and also that altered activity of the arachidonate pathway may reflect changes in earlier pathways involved in platelet activation. Clearly, alterations in these nonarachidonate pathways need to be taken into account when considering the appropriate antiplatelet agents to use in intervention trials. Information about whether hypersensitivity of platelets from people with diabetes persists in vivo and, if so, how this influences platelet-vessel wall interactions and thrombotic tendencies needs to be pursued more intensely in suitable animal models so that the theories developed from studies in vitro can be tested in the more complex environment in vivo. These are important areas for research in the future.

In people with diabetes, the concentration of an individual lipoprotein or apolipoprotein can be highly variable and is totally different in the two major forms of the disease. Alterations in the concentrations of major lipids and lipoproteins are well characterized in both IDDM and NIDDM. In general, the lipoprotein pattern is antiatherogenic in individuals with IDDM who are treated and have optimal glycemic control. In contrast, NIDDM is associated with atherogenic changes of serum lipids and lipoproteins regardless of the mode of treatment. In people with both types of diabetes, the distribution of apoE phenotype seems to be similar to that in nondiabetic populations. IDDM patients with microalbuminuria show atherogenic changes of lipoproteins and have elevated levels of Lp(a), which is a risk factor of coronary artery disease. Whether glycemic control influences the concentration of Lp(a) is still an open question. An important issue is that the concentration of a lipoprotein can be normal without excluding compositional abnormalities that are potentially atherogenic. Such alterations are present in people with both IDDM and NIDDM. Consequently, it has been questioned whether the target values to start treatment should be lower in diabetic than in nondiabetic populations.

Patients with diabetes mellitus are at increased risk of morbidity and mortality from macrovascular disease manifesting as coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular accidents, and peripheral vascular disease. Increased frequency of dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, obesity, hypertension, and associated nephropathy may contribute to accelerated atherogenesis in diabetic patients. Therefore, besides intensive control of hyperglycemia, management of dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity should also be emphasized in diabetic patients. Those who smoke should be strongly encouraged to quit smoking. Besides attempts to achieve normal levels of plasma lipoproteins, consideration also should be given to normalization of compositional abnormalities of various lipoproteins in patients with diabetes mellitus. The therapeutic goals for cholesterol reduction should be lower in diabetic patients than nondiabetic subjects. The first step is to achieve good metabolic control of diabetes mellitus by diet, exercise, and weight reduction and, if needed, with sulfonylureas or insulin therapy. Because most of the patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus achieve normal levels of plasma lipoproteins with intensive insulin therapy, lipid-lowering medications are rarely needed. In patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, however, dyslipidemia often persists despite good glycemic control. Lipid-lowering medications should be considered in such patients. Because nicotinic acid can cause marked deterioration in glycemic control, and bile acid-binding resins may accentuate hypertriglyceridemia, these agents are less desirable for use by diabetic patients. Inhibitors of hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase may be preferred in patients with elevated LDL cholesterol and mld hypertriglyceridemia. For diabetic patients with marked hypertriglyceridemia, however, fibric acid derivatives should be the drug of choice.

Abnormal lipoprotein metabolism contributes to the increased risk of premature atherosclerosis in people with insulin-dependent (type I) diabetes. Although hypertriglyceridemia is common in those with untreated IDDM, treatment with conventional insulin therapy usually restores fasting lipoprotein profiles to nondiabetic levels. Intensive insulin therapy improves glycemic control and lipoprotein concentrations, but does not ameliorate the changes in lipoprotein composition described in people with IDDM. Some of these persistent changes in lipoprotein composition have been attributed to peripheral hyperinsulinemia associated with s.c. insulin therapy. The recent availability of implantable insulin-infusion pumps for treatment of IDDM has allowed the study of the effect of i.p. insulin delivery on lipoprotein metabolism. i.p. insulin therapy is capable of maintaining near normal plasma glucose levels while reducing the peripheral hyperinsulinemia. Although results have been contradictory, studies of i.p. insulin therapy may eventually help to determine whether some of the observed changes in lipoprotein metabolism and composition in people with IDDM are due to the peripheral hyperinsulinemia associated with s.c. insulin therapy.

A review of the putative risk factors associated with the development of coronary heart disease in diabetes is presented. Emphasis is given to the effect of nephropathy (persistent proteinuria) and hypertension on cardiovascular mortality in IDDM. Risk factors associated with CHD in NIDDM are also reviewed. Finally, possible reasons to explain the increased incidence of CHD associated with proteinuria in IDDM patients, including lipoprotein abnormalities, increased fibrinogen levels, increased platelet adhesiveness, and altered hemostatic variables, are discussed.

Herein, we review the applicability to human beta-cells of an electrophysiologically based hypothesis of the coupling of glucose metabolism to insulin secretion. According to this hypothesis, glucose metabolism leads to the generation of intracellular intermediates (including ATP), which leads to closure of ATP-sensitive K+ channels. Channel closure results in membrane depolarization, the onset of electrical activity, and voltage-dependent Ca2+ entry. The resultant rise in cytosolic Ca2+ leads to Ca(2+)-dependent exocytosis of insulin granules. We found that most of the published experimental evidence for human beta-cells supports this hypothesis. In addition, we present three other emerging lines of evidence in support of this hypothesis for human islet beta-cells: 1) the effects of pHi-altering maneuvers on insulin secretion and electrical activity; 2) preliminary identification of LVA and HVA single Ca2+ channel currents; and 3) validation of the feasibility of Cm measurements to track insulin granule exocytosis. On the basis of this last new line of evidence, we suggest that combinations of Cm measurements and electrical activity/membrane current measurements may help define the roles of diverse electrical activity patterns, displayed by human beta-cells, in stimulus-induced insulin secretion.

The increased risk of thromboembolism in people with diabetes mellitus is in part due to changes in the hemostatic mechanism including abnormal platelet function leading to platelet activation, increase in several coagulation factors, decrease in natural anticoagulants, and impaired fibrinolytic activity. Both microangiopathy and atherosclerosis in people with diabetes will enhance the thrombotic potential of these abnormal hemostatic changes. The recent recognition of a role of the components of the plasminogen-plasmin system in many biologic functions at the cellular level has led to studies showing that the angiopathic complications of diabetes may also be caused by impaired plasminogen activator function.

AGEs are nonenzymatically glycosylated adducts of proteins that accumulate in vascular tissues with aging and at an accelerated rate in people with diabetes; AGEs are closely linked to tissue damage due to their high reactivity in protein cross-linking. A macrophage-monocyte receptor system for AGE moieties is shown to mediate the uptake of AGE-modified proteins by a process that also induces cachectin-TNF, IL-1, IGF-I, and PDGF secretion. Thus, in addition to removing senescent glucose-modified proteins and cells, AGE-mediated release of growth-promoting factors may represent a mechanism by which macrophages signal mesenchymal cells the need for replacement of senescent proteins. The age of the macrophage correlates inversely with the binding and removal capacity of the AGE receptor, possibly preventing the clearance of cross-linked proteins and the compounding aging-related tissue damage. In addition to monocyte and macrophages, other cells express similar receptors for AGE-proteins, including endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and mesangial cells. Endothelial cell AGE-receptors mediate transcytosis of AGEs to the subendothelium, induce increased permeability, and enhance endothelium-dependent procoagulant activity. Renal mesangial AGE receptors mediate PDGF-dependent extracellular matrix protein production. Fibroblast AGE receptors may influence cellular proliferation by EGF and EGF-receptor regulation. These findings, in connection with the known abundance of AGEs in aged and diabetic tissues, indicate that AGE-ligand-receptor interactions are crucial for the development of age- and diabetes-related vascular tissue and renal pathology.

The syndromes of insulin resistance are a group of clinically diverse disorders, and our understanding of their molecular pathogenesis has advanced in parallel with our understanding of the structure of the insulin receptor and the mechanism of insulin action. The most straightforward progress has related to defining the role of both anti-receptor antibodies and mutations in the insulin receptor gene in causing these disorders. Despite this progress, the cause of severe target cell resistance in patients without defects in the receptor locus remains unknown, and we are limited in our ability to relate specific molecular defects in insulin signalling to in vivo phenotypes, such as those relating to growth and development and function of adipose tissue and muscle. Answers to these questions may ultimately be explained by the existence of multiple species of insulin receptors expressed in different tissues, brought about by alternative splicing and receptor hybrids, and by divergent pathways of insulin signalling with different consequences for specific tissues. The possibility that the insulin receptor and GLUT4 may be candidate genes for inherited insulin resistance in NIDDM has been addressed with the aid of genetic screening techniques such as SSCP. Currently, the loci have not been implicated in studies in most patients. Transgenic methodologies will be powerful tools for pursuit of unanswered questions in the field of insulin resistance in coming years.

This article is divided into two parts. A retrospective overview summarizes some of the work that provided the framework and tools of the more recent studies. The five novel areas of research are related to the indirect effects of insulin. Regulation of plasma glucose is of central importance in health and diabetes. Understanding this precise regulation requires sensitive isotope dilution methods that can measure the rates at which glucose is produced by the liver and used by the tissues on a minute-to-minute basis. Validation studies indicated that the non-steady-state tracer method yields reasonable results when the specific activity of plasma glucose does not change abruptly. During hyperinsulinemic glucose clamps, the decrease in specific activity of glucose can be prevented by the MSTI. During exercise, the decrease of specific activity can be only in part ameliorated by step-tracer infusion. Depancreatized dogs are used extensively as a model of selective insulin deficiency, because dog stomach secretes physiological amounts of glucagon. This strategy can avoid injections of somatostatin, which can have other affects in addition to the suppression of insulin and glucagon. In human diabetes, in addition to an increase of glucose production, there is also an increase in glucose cycling in the liver. In animal models of diabetes, mild NIDDM, and in glucose intolerance, the percentage of increments of glucose cycling are much larger than those of glucose production. We hypothesize, therefore, that measurements of glucose cycling can be used as an early marker of glucose intolerance. Application of different tracer strategies and use of the depancreatized dog as a model of diabetes, we investigated the importance of the indirect effects of insulin in the pathogenesis of diabetes. 1) Because, in the treatment of IDDM, insulin is administered by the peripheral routes we compared the relative importance of hepatic and peripheral effects of insulin in regulating the rate of glucose production. Experiments were performed in depancreatized dogs that were initially maintained at moderate hyperglycemia (10 mM) with subbasal portal insulin infusion. During the experimental period, insulin was infused either peripherally or portally at 0.9 mU.kg-1.min-1. In addition, peripheral infusions were also given at 0.45 mU.kg-1.min-1. We concluded that when suprabasal insulin levels are provided to moderately hyperglycemic depancreatized dogs, the suppression of glucose production is more dependent on peripheral than portal insulin concentrations. This indirect effect of insulin may be mediated by limitation of the flow of precursors and energy substrates for gluconeogenesis and/or by suppressive effect of insulin on glucagon secretion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Of all the common diseases that have a genetic component, IDDM is probably the most tractable to the experimentalist. Large numbers of nuclear multiplex families are available, which can be stored as permanent cell lines; diagnosis is relatively unambiguous; and a mouse strain, the NOD, spontaneously develops autoimmune IDDM similar to the human disorder. In addition, the resolution and accessibility of the human genome map has been revolutionized by the discovery and widespread application of the PCR, particularly the amplification of short, tandemly repeated segments of DNA called microsatellites, which display high levels of allelic polymorphism. With these reagents, the stage is set for dissection of the genetic factors that control the pathophysiology of IDDM.

Cytokines have been implicated as immunological effector molecules that induce dysfunction and destruction of the pancreatic beta-cell. The mechanisms of cytokine action on the beta-cell are unknown; however, nitric oxide, resulting from cytokine-induced expression of nitric oxide synthase, has been implicated as the cellular effector molecule mediating beta-cell dysfunction. Nitric oxide is a free radical that targets intracellular iron-containing enzymes, which results in the loss of their function. The cytokine IL-1 beta induces the formation of nitric oxide in isolated rat islets and the insulinoma cell line, Rin-m5F. NMMA and NAME, both inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase, completely protect islets from the deleterious effects of IL-1 beta. These inhibitors are competitive in nature and inhibit both the cytokine-inducible and constitutive isoforms of nitric oxide synthase with nearly identical kinetics. This may preclude their use as therapeutic agents because of increases in blood pressure which result from the inhibition of constitutive nitric oxide synthase activity. Aminoguanidine, an inhibitor of nonenzymatic glycosylation of cellular and extracellular constituents associated with diabetic complications, recently has been reported to inhibit nitric oxide synthase. Aminoguanidine is approximately 40-fold more effective in inhibiting the inducible isoform of nitric oxide synthase, suggesting that aminoguanidine or analogues may serve as potential therapeutic agents to block diseases associated with nitric oxide production by the inducible isoform of nitric oxide synthase. In vivo administration of TNF IL-1 has been shown to induce anti-diabetogenic effects in the NOD mouse. This anti-diabetogenic effect of cytokines appears to conflict with evidence suggesting that cytokines mediate beta-cell dysfunction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

All pancreatic beta-cells are identified by specific morphological characteristics. Similarity in microscopic features is not necessarily associated with identity in functional properties. In vitro studies on isolated rat beta-cells have indicated intercellular differences in the threshold for glucose-induced shifts in metabolic redox state. The cellular heterogeneity in glucose sensitivity results in a dose-dependent recruitment of glucose-exposed beta-cells into biosynthetic and secretory activities. The molecular basis of this diversity is not known. Indirect evidence supports the concept that the in situ pancreatic beta-cell population is also composed of functionally diverse subpopulations. The heterogeneity in glucose responsiveness is expected to create subpopulations of beta-cells with either constant, fluctuating, or occasional glucose-dependent functions; whether any subpopulation is preferentially responsive to other regulatory factors and/or committed to other activities is unknown. Morphological markers may help identify beta-cell subpopulations in situ and quantify their size in conditions known to affect total beta-cell mass or function. The concept of a functionally heterogeneous beta-cell population influences views on the role of pancreatic beta-cells in health and disease.

In the normal state, pancreatic secretion of insulin results in a portal/peripheral gradient with the highest concentrations of insulin in the liver. In diabetic patients with absent or insufficient pancreatic insulin secretion who require exogenous insulin, this normal gradient is lost, resulting in numerous abnormalities. This consideration led to interest in the intraperitoneal delivery of insulin, hoping to produce a therapeutic state more closely resembling normal physiology. The development of implantable insulin pumps, which can deliver insulin intraperitoneally, led to numerous studies on insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) patients, demonstrating that insulin delivered intraperitoneally is rapidly and predictably absorbed with most of it going into the portal system, resulting in hepatic delivery of insulin. Studies in IDDM patients have demonstrated that good glucose control can be achieved with intraperitoneal delivery of insulin from implantable pumps with lesser glycemic fluctuations and, therefore, fewer episodes of hypoglycemia. Furthermore, intraperitoneal insulin results in carbohydrate and particularly lipid metabolism that more closely mimics the normal physiological state than produced by injections of insulin. Thus, implantable insulin pumps are being studied for use in IDDM. Many non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients have insufficient pancreatic secretion and require exogenous insulin. Because of alterations in hepatic sensitivity to insulin, increments in insulin delivery to the liver may be even more important in NIDDM than IDDM. Furthermore, insulin resistance, which is an integral part of NIDDM, results in higher physiological levels of insulin, which are required for glucose control, and thus significant peripheral hyperinsulinemia occurs in patients receiving exogenous insulin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The brain is not usually thought to be a target of chronic diabetes complications. Nonetheless, substantial evidence, summarized herein, suggests that diabetes causes brain damage. Clinical syndromes of diabetes-related brain abnormalities are discussed along with possible causes. Various physiological effects of diabetes are reviewed, and questions are raised about gaps in our knowledge. Appropriate directions for future research are suggested.

During our search for a marker for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) in a large multigenerational family with a form of NIDDM termed maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY), we learned a great deal that may serve to streamline the search for diabetes-susceptibility genes in other families. We describe here our experience and suggest strategies that may enhance the search for markers for other diabetes susceptibility genes with genetic linkage approaches.