Glomerular endothelial cell (GEnC)

Glomerular endothelial cell (GEnC) injury may result inproteinuria and glomerular sclerosis (7) and induce a loss ofthe glomerular filtration rate (8,9). The endothelin system hasan important role in DKD (10). Systemic endothelial dysfunc-tion is prominent in type I and II diabetes (11). Although thepathophysiological mechanisms of GEnC injury remain to befully determined, increasing evidence has shown that Ang IImediates the injury (12). Pharmacological inhibition of Ang IImay therefore reduce GEnC injury and apoptosis.In the present study, it was hypothesized that HG, a charac-teristic of the diabetic milieu, results in the activation of a localRAS in GEnCs and experiments were performed to delineatethe pathways involved.