The aim of the present study is to explore whether the renal and cardiovascular response to clonidine in type II diabetic patients is different from that in control subjects, and to clarify the role of central alpha 2-receptor in the regulation of cardiovascular response and sodium handling in type II diabetes mellitus (DM). Thirty-five diabetic inpatients aged 30-71 years (54.1 +/- 9.7) and ten control subjects (N) were enrolled in this study after their fasting plasma glucose had been improved. To evaluate the peripheral sympathetic nerve activity, 24-hour urinary catecholamine was measured, and pulse rate (PR) responses to a 30-second standing test was determined. On another day, blood pressure (BP), PR, plasma norepinephrine (PNE), cyclic AMP (p-cAMP), renin activity (PRA), aldosterone (PAC) and growth hormone (p-GH) were measured at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180 minutes following the oral administration of clonidine (150 micrograms). Type II DM were classified as DM with hyper-response (DM-HR, n = 12) when their PR decreased after clonidine more than that of N, and if not, they were classified as DM with normal response (DM-NR, n = 23). Urinary catecholamine excretions in type II DM were within the normal range. BP, PNE and p-cAMP were markedly decreased with clonidine in similar fashion in DM-NR, DM-HR and N. The percent changes of PNE were correlated positively with the changes of p-cAMP in both N and DM-NR (r = 0.660 and 0.449, respectively), but not in DM-HR. No significant difference in the changes of p-GH (delta p-GH) and integral of GH (the area under the curve) following clonidine administration was observed in the three groups. The decrease in PR was correlated with neither delta p-GH (N: r = 0.082, DM-NR: r = -0.400, DM-HR: r = 0.242) or integral of GH (N: r = 0.191, DM-NR: r = 0.382, DM-HR: r = 0.162). The fractional excretion of sodium (FENa) decreased in N (p < 0.01), increased in DM-NR (p < 0.05) and did not change in DM-HR. The changes of FENa were not correlated with those of PRA and PAC.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)