Effects of aldose reductase inhibitors on renal blood flow parameters in patients with early diabetic nephropathy

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the changes of renal blood flow parameters in patients with early-stage diabetic nephropathy (DN) treated with Aldose reductase inhibitors (ARI)/Epalrestat. MethodsIn this prospective, 120 early DN patients aged 20–75 years from the Endocrinology Department of Chengyang District People's Hospital of Qingdao City in 2015 were randomized to intervention group including 68 patients and control group including 52 patients. Two groups of patients separately received Epalrestat and placebo for 3 months. Renal vascular parameters and blood biochemical index were collected at baseline and after intervention. ResultsAfter 3 months of supplementation, Epalrestat significantly improved the renal and segmental renal arterial end-diastolic blood flow velocity (EDV) and the interlobular artery peak systolic blood flow velocity (PSV) compared with placebo. While Epalrestat markedly decreased the blood flow resistance index (RI) in interlobular artery compared to placebo. There were no significant changes in fasting blood glucose (FBG), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), serum urinary acid (SUA), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), triacylglycerol (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI). ConclusionEpalrestat can effectively improve renal arterial blood flow and renal arterial perfusion, which play a protective role in early DN.