The Effect of Alpha Lipoic Acid(Thioctacid HR R) onEndothelial Function in Diabetic and Hypertensive Patients

• Published in: Korean circulation journal pp. 559 - 564
• Main Authors: 이상록, 정명호, 임상엽, 홍서나, 김계훈, 손일석, 홍영준, 박형욱, 김주한, 김원, 안영근, 조정관, 박종춘, 강정채
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 대한심장학회 01.08.2006
• Subjects: 내과학
• ISSN: 1738-5520; 1738-5555

Background and Objectives：α-Lipoic acid (ALA) is known to improve endothelial function in patients withdiabetes. However, the effect of ALA on endothelial function in hypertensive patients is unknown. The aim ofthis study was to investigate whether ALA improves endothelial function in diabetic and hypertensive patients.Subjects and Methods：This study included 40 patients who were treated with ALA (Group I: 20 diabeticpatients, 54.9±10.2 years, Group II: 20 hypertensive patients, 56.5±9.0 years). ALA was administered in 600mg/day doses during the first four weeks, and 1,200 mg/day doses during the second four weeks. Clinical characteristicsand endothelial function were assessed at baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks after ALA administration.Evaluation of patients included: assessment of the brachial artery for flow mediated vasodilation (FMD) andthe inflammatory marker (high sensitive CRP: hsCRP). Results：Clinical characteristics (body mass index, totalcholesterol/HDL-cholesterol and hsCRP) were unchanged in each group. However, FMD was significantly improvedat 8 weeks after ALA therapy in both groups. Group I-baseline：4 weeks：8 weeks=4.1±3.3：6.5±2.2：8.0±2.7, Group II-baseline：4 weeks：8 weeks=5.5±3.7：7.4±3.3：9.3±2.7, p<0.05. The level of fibrinogen wasobserved to have an inverse correlation with FMD at 8 weeks after ALA therapy in Group I (p<0.05). Conclusion：ALA improves endothelial function in both diabetic and hypertensive patients. (Korean Circulation J 2006;36:559-564) KCI Citation Count: 0