MICROALBUMINURIA AND MINERALS

Nephropathy in the diabetic patient follows a well-established course beginning with microalbuminuria progressing to proteinuria hyperazotemia and culminating in end-stage renal failure. Early nephropathy has also been shown to predict vision-threatening retinal disease in patients with type 1 diabetes. Chronic hyperglycemia is a key factor in microangiopathy because of its rate duration and likely mediators. The hypothesis of a relationship between the angiotensin-1 converting enzyme gene and the deleterious effects of chronic hyperglycemia is possible through an insertion/deletion polymorphism which in fact influences the frequency of serious cardiac complications in insulin-dependent patients with diabetic nephropathy a situation characterized by high plasma angiotensin converting enzyme concentrations. This chronic hyperglycemia is related to the poorly understood angiotensin II. Experimentally growth hormone and insulin like-growth factors through a complex system may be responsible for the changes.