Early Capillary Basement Membrane Changes in Subjects with Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses early capillary basement membrane changes in subjects with diabetes mellitus. The chapter focuses on a highly significant correlation between known duration of carbohydrate intolerance and the incidence and magnitude of muscle capillary basement membrane thickening. In a study described in the chapter, the distribution of basement membrane measurements from subjects with diabetes of less than 20 years duration overlapped almost completely with that of normal subjects. However, the range was over four times that in control subjects. Intercepts of the linear regression of basement membrane width on age in normal men and in diabetic men are virtually identical. The basement membrane width in the potential diabetic does not differ at birth from that of normal subjects. In the vast majority of insulin-requiring diabetics with disease of four years duration or less, capillary basement membrane width is still within normal limits.