Vascular endothelial dysfunction in gestational diabetes mellitus

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common pregnancy-related disorder that pregnant women without diabetes develop glucose tolerance during pregnancy. Endothelial dysfunction is the early event of vascular complications of diabetes. However, the role of endothelial dysfunction in GDM remains unknown. In this study, we hypothesize that there is a correlation between endothelial dysfunction and GDM indexes in the patients. Methods: 96 GDM patients and 96 gestational week-matched healthy pregnancies with normal glucose tolerance were recruited in our study. The expressions of endothelial function markers, including nitride oxidase (NO) and endothelin-1 (ET-1), as well as flow-mediated dilatation (FMD), were measured. In addition, their correlation in GDM patients were also analyzed using Pearson's correlation analysis. Results: GDM patients displayed decrease on FMD and serum NO levels with an increase on serum ET-1 secretion in comparison with normal glucose tolerance group. ROC analysis identified the predictive value of FMD, ET-1 and NO for GDM. Furthermore, endothelial dysfunction was correlated with both fasting plasma glucose and plasma glucose levels after 1 h or 2 h of oral glucose tolerance test in GDM patients. Conclusion: Our data indicated that endothelial dysfunction was associated with GDM, and these markers might serve as potential biomarkers for GDM.