A combination of the aldose reductase inhibitor, statil, and the prostaglandin E1 analogue, OP1206.alpha CD, completely improves sciatic motor nerve conduction velocity in streptozocin-induced chronically diabetic rats.

H Yasuda, M Sonobe, T Hisanaga, T Kawabata, K Maeda, R Kikkawa, Y Shigeta

Index: Metab. Clin. Exp. 41(7) , 778-82, (1992)

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Abstract

In view of the possible implication of multifactorial mechanisms in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy, the aldose reductase inhibitor (ARI), Statil, which ameliorates abnormal sorbitol or myo-inositol metabolism in diabetic nerves, and the prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) analogue, OP1206.alpha CD (OP), which improves diabetic vascular derangements, were administered simultaneously for 2 months to streptozocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats with 5 months' duration of diabetes, and the effects on sciatic motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV), Na(+)-K(+)-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity, and morphology of myelinated nerve fibers (MNF) were compared with the effects of a monotherapy with OP. The combination regimen ameliorated abnormal nerve sorbitol and myo-inositol levels and normalized decreased MNCV and enzyme activity. In contrast, neither sorbitol nor myo-inositol metabolism was ameliorated, and only insufficient improvement of MNCV and morphology of MNF was obtained with a monotherapy with OP. In addition, the combination therapy reversed both a decrease in the percent of large MNF and an increase in the percent of small MNF in diabetic rats, whereas a monotherapy with OP reversed only a decrease in the percent of large MNF. The results might suggest that a multiple-drug therapy with different mechanisms of action has greater effects on diabetic neuropathy than a single-drug therapy and is worthy of clinical consideration.