Ganglioside therapy in experimental diabetic neuropathy.

Streptozocin-diabetic rats were treated with a mixture of gangliosides (Cronassial, 21% GM1, 40%GD1a, 16% GD1b, 19% GT1b) in different application schemes: a) daily s.c. injection of 20 mg/kg gangliosides starting from the first day of diabetes and continued for 8 weeks; b) application of the same dose but only every second day over the same period of time; c) daily application of the same dose is started four weeks after induction of diabetes and continued for 4 weeks; d) daily injections of a corresponding volume of physiological saline. Serial in vivo determinations of conduction velocities in the tail nerve of these animals and of non-diabetic control animals gave the following results: 1. The nerve conduction velocities decreased in all diabetic groups which is evidence for the development of a peripheral diabetic neuropathy. 2. The finding from a previous study is reproduced showing that daily application of gangliosides counteracts this deceleration of nerve conduction. 3. Application of the same dose every second day is nearly as effective in inhibiting the development of the diabetic neuropathy as daily injections. 4. When a daily ganglioside treatment is started four weeks after the onset of diabetes, the existing neuropathy is reduced. The possible basis for this ganglioside effect on experimental peripheral neuropathy and its significance for the treatment of human diabetic polyneuropathies is discussed.