<p>This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p> <p>Endothelin (ET) peptides perform several physiological, vascular,
and nonvascular functions and are widely distributed in a number
of tissues. They are altered in several disease processes including
diabetes. Alteration of ETs have been demonstrated in organs
of chronic diabetic complications in both experimental and clinical
studies. The majority of the effects of ET alteration in diabetes
are due to altered vascular function. Furthermore, ET antagonists
have been shown to prevent structural and functional changes induced
by diabetes in animal models. This review discusses the contribution
of ETs in the pathogenesis and the potential role of ET
antagonism in the treatment of chronic diabetic complications.</p>
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Int J Exp Diabetes Res. 2002; 3(4):217-231