C-peptide and captopril are equally effective in lowering glomerular hyperfiltration in diabetic rats

BACKGROUND: C-peptide has been shown to reduce glomerular hyperfiltration, glomerular hypertrophy and urinary albumin excretion in type 1 diabetes, but its effect has not been compared with that of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) in the early stage of renal involvement in diabetes. METHODS: Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was measured in terms of inulin clearance and renal blood flow, using ultrasound technique, in four groups of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats before and after a 60 min infusion of C-peptide (D-Cp), captopril (D-ACEI), C-peptide and captopril (D-Cp-ACEI) or placebo (D-placebo). In addition, a non-diabetic control group was studied before and after captopril infusion (C-ACEI). RESULTS: GFR was 37-51% higher in the diabetic groups than in the control animals. GFR decreased after treatment in the D-Cp, D-ACEI and D-Cp-ACEI groups, but did not change in the D-placebo group. Blood flow increased by 26-32% in the three groups receiving captopril and by 5% in the diabetic groups treated with C-peptide alone or placebo. The increase in blood flow in the three ACEI-treated groups was significantly greater than in the D-placebo group. Filtration fraction fell significantly in all groups, but only in the combined D-Cp-ACEI group did it fall significantly more than in the D-placebo group. CONCLUSIONS: C-peptide and captopril lower diabetes-induced glomerular hyperfiltration to a similar extent, but the influence of captopril on blood flow is greater than that of C-peptide, suggesting different mechanisms of action. No statistically significant additive effects of C-peptide and captopril were shown in this acute infusion study.