Kidney Function and Glomerular Permeability to Macromolecules in Early Juvenile Diabetes

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Abstract
In 11 newly diagnosed juvenile diabetics a clearly abnormal high glomerular filtration rate (GFR) has been found. During treatment with insulin the GFR fell towards the normal level. The normalization of GFR was associated with normalization of fasting growth hormone level, suggesting that the growth hormone hypersecretion in diabetics may play a role in mediating the high GFR observed in these patients. The results obtained in the various clearance tests, including dextran clearance, suggest that the mechanism responsible for the increase in GFR in untreated diabetes is probably an abnormality of the tone of the afferent and/or efferent vessels of the glomerulus and not structural defects in the capillary membrane.