[Ophthalmological Monitoring of Diabetic Neuropathy in a Mouse Model].

[Ophthalmological Monitoring of Diabetic Neuropathy in a Mouse Model]. Klin Monbl Augenheilkd. 2016 Dec;233(12):1313-1319 Authors: Baltrusch S Abstract Patients with diabetes mellitus suffer from late damage, including microvascular and macrovascular complications and diabetic polyneuropathy, even though blood glucose is well controlled and the HbA1c value normalised. Peripheral nerves are affected, and when these are damaged, this can result in disturbed sensation and pain. Such nerves are mainly Aδ und C fibres, which are present in the skin, but also in the subbasal nerve plexus of the cornea. Imaging of the subbasal nerve plexus using microscopic techniques allows a very early and objective view of neuropathy, which is only possible invasively by skin biopsy. We have used a thy1-YFP mouse strain in which the peripheral nerves are detectable by fluorescence excitation. Using two photon microscopy, we produced high resolution three dimensional images of the corneal subbasal nerve plexus of these mice. We induced diabetes mellitus in thy1-YFP mice by injection of streptocotocin. We showed that the increase in blood glucose was accompanied by a loss of subbasal nerve fibres, mainly in the centre of the cornea. Subsequent treatment of the animals with insulin normalised blood glucose and was accompanied by an increase in subbasal nerve fibres. Thus, this model is highly suited to investigate the pathogenesis of diabetic polyneuropath...
Source: Klinische Monatsblatter fur Augenheilkunde - Category: Opthalmology Tags: Klin Monbl Augenheilkd Source Type: research