Relationship between electrophysiologic and pathologic changes in diabetic peripheral neuropathy rats
- Author:
Gui-Ping WANG
1
Author Information
1. Department of Neurology
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Diabetic neuropathies;
Neural conduction;
Pathology;
Peripheral nervous diseases
- From:
Academic Journal of Second Military Medical University
2010;27(12):1310-1314
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective: To investigate the relationship between electrophysiology and pathology changes in diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) rats and to assess the value of electrophysiology in diagnosis of DPN. Methods: Twenty-four healthy male SD rats were intraperitoneally injected with a single dose of streptozotocin to induce DPN models and the rats were subsequently divided into 3 groups, namely, the DPN model group, the low dose Tong-Luo composite recipe (TLCR) group, and the high dose TLCR group. Rats in the latter 2 groups were lavaged with 2 ml double-distilled water containing 0.5 g/kg and 2 g/kg TLCR for 8 weeks, respectively. Another 8 healthy rats were taken as normal controls. The motor conduction velocity (MCV), sensory conduction velocity (SCV), and potential latency and amplitude of caudal nerves were measured after 8 weeks in all rats. Morphometric quantitative analysis was also performed. Results: Compared with normal control group, the MCV, SCV, and potential amplitude of the caudal nerve in DPN model group were decreased, but the potential latency was increased. After TLCR treatment, the above indices were significantly improved and were close to those of the normal control group. SCV of the low dosage group was still significantly lower than that of normal control group (P< 0.05), that of high dose group was also lower than that of normal control group but with no statistical significance, and that of low dose group was significantly low than that of high dose group (P<0.05). Pathological examination showed that the myelinated nerve fiber positive area, myelin sheath area, and axon area in DPN model group were lower than those in the normal control group, the areas in treatment group were obviously increased compared with DPN model group. Compared with the low dose group, the high dose group had significantly larger myelinated nerve fiber positive area and myelin sheath area, but not axon area. The changes of the myelinated nerve fiber positive area and myelin sheath area were basically consistent to SCV changes in all groups, but the myelin sheath area of the high dose group were still smaller than that of the normal control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Myelinated nerve fiber positive area and myelin sheath area are the more sensitive markers of the course and therapeutic outcome of DPN. SCV can be used for initial estimation of myelinated nerve fiber density. SCV is closely related to the pathological changes of myelin sheath and can be used for clinical diagnosis of DPN, but should be reserved for patients with suclinical DPN and patients who have received high dose drug treatment.
