Drug-Induced Reversal of Early Diabetic Microangiopathy

Abstract

We performed three oral glucose-tolerance tests and three muscle biopsies over a period of approximately three years in 41 asymptomatic patients with chemical diabetes. At base line, 13 (32 per cent) had an increased capillary basement-membrane width in muscle. Twenty-three patients received gliplzide, a new oral hypoglycemic compound, and 18 received placebo. In the patients receiving placebo the mean width of the muscle capillary basement membrane increased from 135.9±9.0 nm (S.E.M.) to 169.3±9.5 nm (P = 0.01), but in those receiving glipizide the value decreased to a level no different from that in subjects without diabetes: from 152.9±2.9 to 127.5±5.1 nm (P = 0.01).