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Updated: Jul 20, 2026

Assessing Endothelial Vasodilator Function with the Endo-PAT 2000
Published on: October 15, 2010
[Effects of rosiglitazone on endothelium-dependent vasodilation in patients with Type 2 diabetes]
Jing Wu1, Min-xiang Lei, Lan Liu
1Department of Endocrinology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, China. wujing0731@hotmail.com
Objective:
To investigate the effects of rosiglitazone on endothelium-dependent vasodilation in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
Methods:
Eighty-three newly diagnosed patients with Type 2 diabetes were divided into metformin group (metformin 750 mg/d), therapeutic alliance group (rosiglitazone 4 mg/d and metformin 750 mg/d), and rosiglitazone group (rosiglitazone 4 mg/d), and 25 normal subjects were as the control group. All patients were treated for 12 weeks. The height, weight, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting serum insulin (FINS), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and serum nitric oxide (NO) were measured before and after the therapy. The body mass index (BMI) and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistant index (HOMA-IR) were calculated. The flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and endothelium independent dilatation (EID) were measured by high-resolution ultrasound.
Results:
The BMI, TG, TC, LDL-C, FPG, HBA1c, HOMA-IR were higher (P<0.01), but HDL-C, NO, FMD were lower (P<0.01) in all diabetic groups than those in the control group before the treatment. After the 12-week treatment, TG, FPG, HBA1c, HOMA-IR decreased significantly in all the diabetic groups (P<0.01); FINS decreased, but HDL-C, NO, FMD and EID increased (P<0.01) in therapeutic alliance group and rosiglitazone groups, while HDL-C, FINS, NO, FMD had no change in metformin group compared with those before the treatment.
Conclusion:
Endothelium-dependent vasodilation function is impaired in patients with Type 2 diabetes. The therapy with rosiglitazone can increase the serum NO level, and improve endothelium-dependent vasodilation,but metformin has no influence on the above-mentioned indexes.
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