Thromboxane A2/prostacyclin ratio as a predictor for vascular complication in diabetes mellitus

ABSTRACT

Vascular complication of diabetes mellitus is a major problem. In a trial to study the platelet function in diabetics we measured, the platelet count and aggregation, both prostacyclin stable metabolite 6 ketoprostacyclin Fl [6KPGFl] and thromboxane stable metabolite [TXB2] to get TXB2/PGI2 ratio. We studied 20 insulin-dependent diabetics and 10 normals as a control. The result showed that no statistically significant difference between the diabetic group and the normal group as regard the platelet count and platelet aggregation both with low [20U] and high [50 U] dose of A.D.P. The level of [6KPGFl.] was significantly lower in diabetics [89.73 pg/0.l ml compared to the normals [228 pg/0.l ml] and the level of TXB2 was significantly higher in diabetics [609.2 pg/0.l ml] compared to the normals [105.3 pg/0.l ml]. Thus, the TXB2/6KPGFl. ratio in diabetics was 50.04 in comparison to 0.56 in the normals. We concluded that the loss of balance between the aggregator thromboxane A2 and the inhibitory prostacyclin may contribute to the evolution of vascular complication in diabetics