Multifactorial etiology is involved in premature
atherosclerosis related to diabetes. Most of the mechanisms that are responsible for the etiology in diabetes have remained unsolved so far.
Type 1 diabetes is associated with a favorable
lipid pattern and with microangiopathy, which is not true for
type 2 diabetes, which is related to
dyslipidemia and macroangiopathy. The aim of this work was to evaluate the degree of
LDL modification related to the types of diabetes. The question is whether the
LDL could be differently modified since the pathogenesis of type 1 and
type 2 diabetes is different. Thirty-one type 1 (19 male and 12 female) and thirty type 2 (18 male and 12 female) diabetic patients were included in this study. Isolated
LDL was analyzed by capillary electrophoresis for diene conjugate content and for electronegativity.
LDL from
type 1 diabetes subjects showed the highest electrophoretic mobility (P = 0.000). Instead, the diene conjugates contents were higher in the type 2 patients with HbA1c levels > 8% (P = 0.007). In conclusion, the increased diene content in type 2 diabetic subjects in poor
glycemic control and the highest
LDL mobility found in type 1 subjects show that the
LDL undergoes different modifications. In type 2 patients, electronegative
LDL are in a state of higher susceptibility to oxidation, whereas in type 1 subjects the finding of electronegative
lipoproteins could provide an index of the relative atherogenicity of circulating
LDL, especially as
LDL has higher electrophoretic mobility than normal subjects.