Copeptin modifies retinal arteriolar remodeling in male patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus compared to hypertensive and healthy individuals

Background and aims:

Copeptin, the C-terminal peptide of pro-vasopressin, is associated with cardiovascular mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The aim of this cross-sectional study was to analyze whether copeptin levels are linked to microvascular structural changes in T2DM.

Materials and methods:

Copeptin was measured in 36 diabetic patients, 30 patients with hypertension stage 1 or 2 and 29 healthy people using ELISA. All patients of this comparative study were men and never smoked. Retinal vascular parameters such as wall thickness (WT) and cross sectional area (CA) of retinal arterioles were assessed non-invasively and in vivo by scanning laser Doppler flowmetry (Heidelberg Engineering, Germany).

Results:

Copeptin levels did not differ between patients with T2DM (5.96 ± 4.6 pmol/l), hypertension (5.86 ± 4.7 pmol/l) and healthy individuals (5.81 ± 2.9 pmol/l) (p = 0.99). Copeptin levels correlated with retinal WT (r = 0.35, p = 0.05) and CA (r = 0.36, p = 0.04) in patients with T2DM. No association was found between copeptin levels and mean systolic (r =-0.16, p = 0.38) and diastolic (r =-0.18, p = 0.32) 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure (BP) in the diabetic cohort, whereas in hypertensive patients copeptin levels correlated with mean systolic (r = 0.38, p = 0.03) and diastolic (r = 0.43, p = 0.02) 24 hour ambulatory BP.

Conclusions:

Copeptin levels were associated with hypertrophic retinal arteriolar remodeling in patients with T2DM.