Obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and smoking are all well
known risk factors for cardiovascular disease. However, the link
between these risk factors, plasma insulin and endothelin-1(ET-1) as well
as cardiovascular diseases remains to be undetermined and must be
clarified. So, the current work was carried on 120 men. Their ages
ranged between 32-64 years with a mean value 59±9.5, They were
classified into 6 groups ;control, obese, hypertensive, uncontrolled,
controlled diabetics and smokers. The results of this work showed that
plasma C-peptide and insulin were significantly increased in obese,
uncontrolled and controlled diabetic groups (p<0.05) compared with the
control group. Moreover, plasma insulin was significantly increased in,
hypertensive group compared with the control group(p<0.005) .In
addition, plasma ET-1 was significantly increased in all risky groups
compared with the control group (p<0.05). Comparative study of
controlled versus uncontrolled diabetic group, plasma C-peptide, insulin
and ET-1 were all significantly decreased(P1<0.05).On the otherhand ,
correlation study showed that; plasma insulin was significantly positive
correlated with plasma ET-1 in obese (r=0.514 p<0.05), hypertensive
(r=0.555 p<0.05), uncontrolled diabetes mellitus (r=0.510 p<0.05) and
controlled diabetes mellitus groups (r= 0,496 p<0.05) while nonsignificantly
positive correlated with ET-1 in smoking group.
We could conclude that, hyperinsulinemia will sign a danger
signal for the increase of plasma ET-1 and subsequent endothelial
dysfunction in all risky subjects . So, they are more prone to ischemic
heart disease . However, further study was needed using ET-1
antagonists on its receptors which may be of help to abolish or at least to
minimize its pathophysiological effects on blood vessels. This is may be
benefit for clinical intervention