Morphometrical analysis of the peripheral nerve lesions in experimental diabetes rats.

Morphometrical analysis of the peripheral nerve lesions in experimental diabetes rats was undertaken to elucidate their relationship to glucose intolerance and nerve conduction velocity. Motor nerve conduction velocity of the rat's tail and nerve fiber density in the cross sectional view of the peroneal nerves significantly reduced in the diabetes rats without insulin treatment. With the teased nerve fiber methods, degenerated nerve fibers frequently appeared and shortening of internodal length was estimated in the diabetes rats by quantification. The slowing of nerve conduction, blood glucose levels on the oral glucose tolerance test and the incidence of degenerated nerve fibers were well correlated with one another. Daily insulin treatment caused a significant decrease in degenerated nerve fibers in the diabetes rats. The reduction of nerve fiber density was also related to glucose intolerance. However, there was neither the relationship between nerve fiber density and incidence of degenerated nerve fibers, nor the relationship between nerve fiber density and nerve conduction velocity.