Relationship between diurnal blood pressure, renal hemodynamic function, and the renin-angiotensin system in type 1 diabetes

In patients with diabetes, altered diurnal blood pressure (BP) regulation (high night-to-day [N/D] ratio, or "nondipping") is associated with increases in albumin excretion and a decline in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) by an unknown mechanism. Because it is known that renin angiotensin system (RAS) activation and defective glucose control contribute to adverse renal outcomes, we examined renal responses to high glucose and to manipulation of the RAS in adolescents (mean age 14 +/- 2 years) with uncomplicated type 1 diabetes, segregated into two groups on the basis of the presence or absence of normal N/D BP ratio. In the first experiment, renal hemodynamic comparisons were made during euglycemia (4-6 mmol/l) and hyperglycemia (9-11 mmol/l), maintained by modified clamp techniques. The induction of hyperglycemia resulted in a significant increase in GFR and filtration fraction (FF) in the high N/D ratio group. In the second experiment, we examined the renal response to graded angiotensin II (Ang II) infusion while subjects were euglycemic and salt replete. High N/D ratio was associated with an enhanced FF response to Ang II. In the third experiment, the N/D ratio and GFR were assessed after 3 weeks of ACE inhibition. This maneuver corrected the high N/D ratio, but it had no effect on glomerular hyperfiltration. These results suggest that RAS activation does not explain the hyperfiltration state, nor can it explain the poor outcomes, at least in this population. However, the observed deleterious hemodynamic responses to high glucose and Ang II and the insensitivity to ACE inhibition may, taken together, provide an explanation for the adverse renal outcomes in patients with type 1 diabetes and high N/D ratio.