Sodium-potassium-ATPase activity in the dorsal root ganglia of rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes

Melatonin Reduces Excitability in Dorsal Root Ganglia Neurons with Inflection on the Repolarization Phase of the Action Potential

Melatonin is a neurohormone produced and secreted at night by pineal gland. Many effects of melatonin have already been described, for example: Activation of potassium channels in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and inhibition of excitability of a sub-population of neurons of the dorsal root ganglia (DRG). The DRG is described as a structure with several neuronal populations. One classification, based on the repolarizing phase of the action potential (AP), divides DRG neurons into two types: Without (N₀) and with (N_inf) inflection on the repolarization phase of the action potential. We have previously demonstrated that melatonin inhibits excitability in N₀ neurons, and in the present work, we aimed to investigate the melatonin effects on the other neurons (N_inf) of the DRG neuronal population. This investigation was done using sharp microelectrode technique in the current clamp mode. Melatonin (0.01–1000.0 nM) showed inhibitory activity on neuronal excitability, which can be observed by the blockade of the AP and by the increase in rheobase. However, we observed that, while some neurons were sensitive to melatonin effect on excitability (excitability melatonin sensitive—EMS), other neurons were not sensitive to melatonin effect on excitability (excitability melatonin not sensitive—EMNS). Concerning the passive electrophysiological properties of the neurons, melatonin caused a hyperpolarization of the resting membrane potential in both cell types. Regarding the input resistance (R_in), melatonin did not change this parameter in the EMS cells, but increased its values in the EMNS cells. Melatonin also altered several AP parameters in EMS cells, the most conspicuously changed was the (dV/dt)_max of AP depolarization, which is in coherence with melatonin effects on excitability. Otherwise, in EMNS cells, melatonin (0.1–1000.0 nM) induced no alteration of (dV/dt)_max of AP depolarization. Thus, taking these data together, and the data of previous publication on melatonin effect on N₀ neurons shows that this substance has a greater pharmacological potency on N_inf neurons. We suggest that melatonin has important physiological function related to N_inf neurons and this is likely to bear a potential relevant therapeutic use, since N_inf neurons are related to nociception.

Voltage-dependent calcium currents are enhanced in dorsal root ganglion neurones from the Bio Bred/Worchester diabetic rat

1. Whole-cell, high-threshold, voltage-dependent calcium currents (ICa) were enhanced in acutely dissociated, capsaicin-sensitive dorsal root ganglion neurones from diabetic Bio Bred/Worchester (BB/W) rats, compared with those from age-matched, non-diabetic controls. The magnitude of the enhancement increased with the duration of diabetes, and reached significance at diabetic durations of 6 months (diabetic: 6.3 +/- 0.4 nA; current density (CD), 157 +/- 12 pA pF-1; means +/- S.E.M., n = 9, P < 0.01; control: 3.9 +/- 0.6 nA; CD, 116 +/- 11 pA pF-1; n = 18) and 8 months (diabetic: 7.6 +/- 0.4 nA; CD, 177 +/- 25 pA pF-1; n = 11, P < 0.005; control: 5.1 +/- 0.5 nA; CD, 111 +/- 26 pA pF-1; n = 15). Low-threshold, voltage-dependent ICa were also enhanced in neurones from animals diabetic for 8 months (diabetic: 2.5 +/- 0.7 nA, n = 4, P < 0.05; control: 0.7 +/- 0.5 nA, n = 6). 2. The ICa enhancement was prevented by long-term treatment of diabetic animals with an aldose reductase inhibitor (ARI; peak ICa at 6 months: 4.41 +/- 0.48 nA, n = 2; at 8 months: 4.32 +/- 0.60 nA, n = 9). 3. The ICa enhancement was not due to a shift in the voltage dependence of either the current-voltage relationship or steady-state inactivation. 4. The L channel antagonist nifedipine and preferential N channel antagonist omega-conotoxin GVIA (omega-CgTX) caused a greater inhibition of high-threshold ICa in diabetic neurones compared with controls (nifedipine: control: 25 +/- 3%, n = 26; diabetic: 36 +/- 7%, n = 11; omega-CgTX: control: 40 +/- 4%, n = 21; diabetic: 50 +/- 7%, n = 7). Diabetic neurones also demonstrated a significantly greater residual current (2.44 +/- 0.34 nA, n = 7) in the presence of both antagonists vs. controls (1.28 +/- 0.30 nA, n = 8, P < 0.05), suggesting that N-, L- and additional non-N-, non-L-type high-threshold ICa were enhanced.

A defect in sodium-dependent amino acid uptake in diabetic rabbit peripheral nerve. Correction by an aldose reductase inhibitor or myo-inositol administration

A myo-inositol-related defect in nerve sodium-potassium ATPase activity in experimental diabetes has been suggested as a possible pathogenetic factor in diabetic neuropathy. Because the sodium-potassium ATPase is essential for other sodium-cotransport systems, and because myo-inositol-derived phosphoinositide metabolites regulate multiple membrane transport processes, sodium gradient-dependent amino acid uptake was examined in vitro in endoneurial preparations derived from nondiabetic and 14-d alloxan diabetic rabbits. Untreated alloxan diabetes reduced endoneurial sodium-gradient dependent uptake of the nonmetabolized amino acid 2-aminoisobutyric acid by greater than 50%. Administration of an aldose reductase inhibitor prevented reductions in both nerve myo-inositol content and endoneurial sodium-dependent 2-aminoisobutyric acid uptake. Myo-inositol supplementation that produced a transient pharmacological elevation in plasma myo-inositol concentration, but did not raise nerve myo-inositol content, reproduced the effect of the aldose reductase inhibitor on endoneurial sodium-dependent 2-aminoisobutyric acid uptake. Phorbol myristate acetate, which acutely normalizes sodium-potassium ATPase activity in diabetic nerve, did not acutely correct 2-aminoisobutyric uptake when added in vitro. These data suggest that depletion of a small myo-inositol pool may be implicated in the pathogenesis of defects in amino acid uptake in diabetic nerve and that rapid correction of sodium-potassium ATPase activity with protein kinase C agonists in vitro does not acutely normalize sodium-dependent 2-aminoisobutyric acid uptake.

Histopathological heterogeneity of neuropathy in insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent diabetes, and demonstration of axo-glial dysjunction in human diabetic neuropathy

Altered sorbitol and myo-inositol metabolism, (Na,K)-ATPase function, electrochemical sodium gradients, axonal swelling, and distortion and disruption of the node of Ranvier ("axo-glial dysjunction") directly implicate hyperglycemia in the pathogenesis of neuropathy in diabetic rats, but the relevance of this sequence to clinical neuropathy in heterogeneous groups of diabetic patients remains to be established. Fascicular sural nerve morphometry in 11 patients with neuropathy complicating insulin-dependent diabetes revealed a pattern of interrelated structural changes strikingly similar to that of the diabetic rat when compared to age-matched controls. 17 older non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients with comparable duration and severity of hyperglycemia and severity of neuropathy, displayed similar nerve fiber loss, paranodal demyelination, paranodal remyelination and segmental demyelination compared to age-matched controls, but axo-glial dysjunction was replaced by Wallerian degeneration as the primary manifestation of fiber damage, and fiber loss occurred in a spatial pattern consistent with an ischemic component. The mechanistic model developed from the diabetic rat does indeed appear to apply to human diabetic neuropathy, but superimposed hormonal, metabolic, vascular, and/or age-related effects alter the morphologic expression of the neuropathy in non-insulin dependent diabetes.

Changes in sorbitol, myo-inositol and lipid inositol in dorsal root and sympathetic ganglia from streptozotocin-diabetic rats

Sorbitol, fructose, myo-inositol and lipid inositol concentrations were measured in excised dorsal root and sympathetic ganglia from rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes, both in the acute stage (1 and 2 weeks after the induction of diabetes) and chronically (after 2 months of diabetes). In comparison with age-matched controls, myo-inositol concentrations were decreased by 26-32% after 1 and 2 weeks but had returned to normal levels at 2 months. Lipid inositol concentrations were normal both in the acutely and chronically diabetic animals. Sorbitol was not detectable in ganglia from diabetic or control animals except for a small quantity (0.05 mumol/g wet weight) in dorsal root ganglia at the 2-month stage. Fructose was present in dorsal root ganglia (1.71-3.53 mumol/g wet weight) at all stages and in sympathetic ganglia (2.18 mumol/g wet weight) at the 8-week stage. The differences in these results from those obtained in peripheral nerve trunks are possibly related to the lack of a blood-nerve barrier in sensory and autonomic ganglia.