Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: We aimed to investigate the short term effects of atorvastatin on endothelial function and oxidized LDL (oxLDL) levels and to evaluate the association of endothelial dysfunction to oxLDL levels and inflammatory markers in type 2 diabetic patients.

Material and methods: After ethical committee approval thirty type 2 diabetic and 11 healthy subjects with LDL levels between 100–160 mg/dl. Without a history of cardiovascular event were included in the study.Both groups were matched with respect to age, gender, body mass indices, body composition and lipid levels. Flow-mediated dilatation (endothelium-dependent, FMD) and nitroglycerine-induced dilatation (endothelium- independent, NID) were measured in the brachial artery using high-resolution ultrasound in all participants. Carotid artery intima media thickness (IMT) was also evaluated. OxLDL levels, lipid parameters, blood glucose, C-peptide, HbA1c and inflammatory markers including C-reactive protein(CRP), fibrinogen, erithrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were studied. Type2 diabetic patients recived 10 mg. Atorvastatin for 6 weeks and FMD, NID, IMT reevaluated and ox-LDL levels and inflammatory markers were measured.

Results: Basal FMD, NID, IMT and ox-LDL levels besides inflammatory markers were not significantly different between patients and controls. No correlation was found between inflammatory markers and FMD and NID. Only IMT correlated with the NID and fibrinogen levels obtained before treatment. In nondiabetics, IMT also correlated with oxLDL levels (P:0.013). FMD and NID significantly improved after atorvastatin therapy (7.62±7.6 vs. 12.65±7.8, P<0.001 and 18.22±9.57 vs. 21.43±9.6, P=0.007, respectively). Atorvastatin significantly reduced ox-LDL levels (57.85±10.33 vs. 44.36±6.34, P<0.001) and IMT (0.627±0.17 vs. 0.597±0.16, P 0.02) in diabetics.

Conclusions: Atorvastatin improves endothelial functions and reduces oxLDL levels in type 2 diabetics with average lipid levels in the short term and may have beneficial effects in the prevention of early atherosclerotic changes.