Diabetes 54:2415-2423, 2005
© 2005 by the American Diabetes Association, Inc.
Compromised Arterial Function in Human Type 2 Diabetic Patients
Elena B. Okon1,
Ada W.Y. Chung1,
Pooja Rauniyar1,
Eugenia Padilla2,
Teresa Tejerina2,
Bruce M. McManus1,
Honglin Luo1, and
Cornelis van Breemen1
1 James Hogg iCAPTURE Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research, University of British Columbia and St. Pauls Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
2 Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain
Diabetes is associated with a perturbation of signaling pathways in vascular tissue, which causes vasomotor dysfunction such as hypertension and accelerated atherosclerosis. In the present study, the mechanisms of vasomotor dysfunction, Akt (Thr308 and Ser473) phosphorylation and expression of endothelial NO (nitric oxide) synthase, and inducible NO synthase were investigated in human diabetic internal mammary arteries. The phospho-Akt (Thr308) level in arteries from diabetic patients was reduced to about one-half of the level in nondiabetic patients, suggesting impaired insulin signaling in human diabetic vascular tissue. Augmented vasoconstriction was observed in diabetic arteries, due in part to deficiency of basal and stimulated NO production. This correlated with decreased endothelial NO synthase expression and activity in diabetic vessels. The sensitivity of diabetic vessels to the NO donor, sodium nitroprusside, was reduced as well, suggesting that NO breakdown and/or decreased sensitivity of smooth muscle to NO are also responsible for abnormal vasoconstriction. In addition, the abnormal vasoconstriction in diabetic vessels was not completely abolished in the presence of N -nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, revealing that NO-independent mechanisms also contribute to vasomotor dysfunction in diabetes. In conclusion, diabetes downregulates the Akt-signaling pathway and compromises human arterial function through a decrease in NO availability as well as through NO-independent mechanisms.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Elena B. Okon, PhD, iCAPTURE Center, St. Pauls Hospital, Room 166, 1081 Burrard St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6. E-mail: eokon{at}mrl.ubc.ca
Abbreviations:
eNOS, endothelial nitric oxide synthase; IMA, internal mammary artery; iNOS, inducible nitric oxide synthase; L-NAME, N -nitro-L-arginine methyl ester; PI3K, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; SNP, sodium nitroprusside

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Copyright © 2005 by the American Diabetes Association.
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