Causes and Complications of Diabetes Flashcards
What is Diabetes?
- Metabolic disease - raised plasma glucose levels
- Caused by failure of insulin- regulation of metabolism
- Hyperglycemia causes microvascular and macrovascular complications
How does hyperglycemia cause diabetic complications?
- Microvascular complications caused by hyperglycemia
- Damage to endothelial lining of small blood vessels
- Macrovascular complications increased free fatty acids
- Plaque deposition in arterial walls
- Increased FAOx -> oxidative stress?
Macrovascular complications
- Diabetes an independent risk factor for
- coronary artery disease,
- cerebrovascular disease,
- peripheral vascular disease. eg deep vein thrombosis
- Often comorbid for other risk factors, including:
- obesity,
- hypertension,
- hyperlipidemia,
- altered platelet function.
- Type 2 diabetes - macrovascular disease often present at diagnosis.
- Type 1 diabetes - age and duration of diabetes correlate with degree of macrovascular disease
Implications for treatment
- Most treatments target hyperglycemia
- Clear benefits of tight glycemic control for microvascular complications
- DM clear risk-factor for macrovascular disease
- Macrovascular benefits of glycemic control less clear
- Important to treat co-morbities
Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus
- Type 1 Diabetes Juvenile-onset diabetes
- defect: Autoimmune destruction of β-cells
- age of onset: 1-25 Years
- physique: lean
- prevalence - 0.5%
- treatment: insulin
Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus
- Type 2 Diabetes Late-onset diabetes
- defect: insulin resistance Defective insulin secretion,
- age of onset: >40 Years (but getting younger)
- physique: obese
- prevalence - >2%
- treatment: Diet, drugs, insulin
Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease
- Antibody-mediated immune destruction of beta cells
- Insulin-secreting cells in islets of Langerhans
- Progressive loss (months to years)
- Usually during adolescence
- Marked hyperglycaemia seen when 80-90% of beta cells lost
Geographic and seasonal variations suggest environmental factors
- Candidates include:
- Viruses (incl. mumps, Coxsackie B4, retroviruses, rubella)
- Specific drugs or chemicals (dietary nitrosamines (found in smoked and cured meats) and coffee)
- Dietary constituents (cow’s milk in infancy)
- Reduced exposure to microorganisms in early childhood (hygiene hypothesis)
Major complications of Type I diabetes
- Chronic effects of hyperglycemia
- Hypoglycemia
- Due to overadministration of insulin
- Diabetic ketoacidosis
- generation of ketone bodies exceeds metabolism
- Latter both potentially fatal
Diabetic Ketoacidosis
- fatty acids are converted to ketone bodies in the liver
• Uncontrolled lipolysis & β-oxidation -> over- production of ketone bodies
• Ketone bodies are strong acids -> overwhelms the buffering capacity of the body -> acidosis -> coma & death
What Causes Type II diabetes?
- Inability of insulin to exert effects on liver & adipose
- Insulin resistance
- Secondary “islet exhaustion”
- Hyperglycemia & high FFA
What causes insulin resistance?
- Strong genetic component
- Identical twins >90% concordant
- Indigenous populations
- Environment Important
- Increased incidence over last century
- Genotype clearly hasn’t changed!!
- What’s changed?
- Lifestyle, exercise, habits,
- Most commonly associated with obesity (>80% of cases)
- DIET!
What causes insulin resistance?
• Ectopic lipid accumulation
• Liver and muscle triglyceride “ insulin sensitivity
• Accumulation of lipid mediators (diacylglycerol & ceramide) may alter protein phosphorylation
• Cellularstress-responses
• Mitochondrial and protein-production machinery
breaks down
• Alters insulin signaling pathways
• Likely downstream of ectopic lipid accumulation
• Inflammation
• Macrophages in adipose tissue accumulate lipid
• ->secretion of inflammatory cytokines (TNFα)
• Alters insulin signalling pathways in muscle & liver
• Ectopic lipid accumulation underlies Insulin resistance
• Driven by over consumption of nutrients
• Fat-storage capacity of adipose tissue overwhelmed
Complications Due To Diabetes
- Microvascular damage leads to:
- Retina (diabetic retinopathy): leading, ultimately, to blindness
- Kidney (niabetic nephropathy): leading to end stage renal failure
- Nerves (diabetic neuropathy): leading to debilitating neuropathy
Peripheral neuropathies Caused by
- Endothelial damage !wall thickening -> ischemia & neural death
- Segmental demyelinization & slowing of nerve conduction.
- The clinical manifestations vary with the location of the lesion.