Impact of diabetic polyneuropathy and cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy on the excretion of urinary 8-epi-PGF2alpha and its metabolites (2, 3-dinor and 2, 3-dinor-5, 6-dihydro).

The objective of this study was to establish if diabetes in the presence of polyneuropathy (PN) and/or cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) is associated with alterations in the amounts of 8-epi-PGF2alpha (IP) and its metabolites including 2, 3-dinor-8-epi-PGF2alpha (dinor-IP) and 2, 3-dinor-5, 6 dihydro-8-epi-PGF2alpha (dinor-dihydro-IP) in urine. Mass spectrometric separation showed that excretion of IP was similar in the PN + /CAN- and PN+/CAN+ groups but higher than in the PN-/CAN- group (n = 103, 22 and 60, respectively; P < 0.05). By contrast, excretion of dinor-IP or dinor-dihydro-IP were similar in the PN-/CAN- and PN+/CAN- groups but higher than in PN+/CAN+ group. Correlations were obtained between IP and dinor-IP or dinor-dihydro-IP (r = 0.30; P < 0.001 and r = 0.31; P < 0.001, respectively). A significant association was also observed between dinor-IP and dinor-dihydro-IP (r = 0.48; P < 0.001). In conclusion, these biomarkers should prove useful in studies evaluating the impact of therapeutic drugs or antioxidant interventions aimed at delaying the onset of diabetic complications.