GH-treated diabetic rats had less hyperfiltration and more albuminuria, concomitant with more glomerular matrix deposition, when compared with regular diabetic animals. This was associated with a significant increase in renal IGFBP-1, and dissociated from IGF-I changes. Thus, in this model, GH exacerbates the course of diabetic kidney disease.

SST analogues exert beneficial effects in most parameters of diabetic kidney disease to the same extent as the ACEi. Enalapril treatment had no effect on renal hypertrophy and did not cause a significant decrease in mesangial type IV collagen deposition. A synergistic effect of combined SST-ACEi therapy could not be shown in this study.