Variations and interrelation between vasopressin and plasma osmolality in diabetic rats with insulin treatment

Although it is well known that plasma osmolality and plasma vasopressin (VP) levels in diabetes mellitus are higher than in non-diabetic conditions (and that these levels return to normality with insulin therapy), there are no existing studies which examine for insulin-dependent diabetes, either the persistence of daily rhythmic variations of VP or the relationship between this variation and daily osmotic oscillations. We have therefore examined nycthaemeral variations in both plasma osmolality and plasma VP in normal (C), uncontrolled (D) and controlled insulin-dependent streptozotocin diabetic rats (DI). The uncontrolled streptozotocin treated rats presented, a loss of VP rhythmicity, together with higher values of VP than in both normal and controlled diabetic rats. The VP rhythm, however, could be restored with insulin treatment. Furthermore, the temporal VP/osmolality ratio in uncontrolled diabetic rats is higher than in normal rats, although this ratio does not show the daily rhythmic pattern that is present in both normal and diabetic rats treated with insulin. This may indicate that the lack of rhythmicity in osmotic regulation is responsible for the absence of a circadian rhythm in VP. As a result, we conclude that in uncontrolled diabetic rats, the higher VP levels and the loss of VP circadian rhythmicity could be due to a higher sensitivity in the osmoregulatory system, together with an absence of circadian variation of this system. This circadian variation could be responsible for the plasma VP rhythmicity in both normal and controlled diabetic rats.