Peripheral nerve fiber size in experimental diabetes.

Serial morphometric observations were made on the tibial nerves of mature rats before and five weeks after the induction of diabetes by streptozotocin. Maximum and average myelinated fiber diameter did alter, neither did the relationship between myelin sheath thickness and axon circumference. This confirms previous observations suggesting that the reduced nerve conduction velocity that is known to occur in experimental diabetes is likely to depend on metabolic alterations rather than on structural changes.