We explored the specific impact of polyol pathway hyperactivity on dorsal root ganglia (DRG) using transgenic mice that overexpress human aldose reductase because DRG changes are crucial for the development of diabetic sensory neuropathy. Littermate mice served as controls. Half of the animals were made diabetic by streptozotocin injection and followed for 12 weeks. After diabetes onset, diabet...

Reproductive functions decline with the onset of diabetes in female mice. Diabetic mice have smaller uteri with an underdeveloped endometrium, suggesting diminished estrogen-induced growth. We aimed to clarify the changes in the estrous cycle and in insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) expression in the uteri of streptozotocin (STZ)-treated diabetic mice, because IGF1 is one of the main growth f...

Diabetic or peripheral diabetic neuropathy (PDN) is one of the major complications among some other diabetic complications such as diabetic nephropathy, diabetic retinopathy, and diabetic cardiomyopathy. The use of animal models in the research of diabetes and diabetic complications is very common when rats and mice are most commonly used for many reasons. A numbers of animal models of diabetic...

Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice increased levels of serum glucose, triglyceride and cholesterol, and decreased level of serum insulin. Effects of Bofutsushosan (BOF: Pulvis ledebouriellae compositae: 防風通聖 散) and its composed crude drug, gardeniae fructus (GF: 山梔子) were investigated on levels of these diabetic parameters (serum glucose, insulin, triglyceride and cholesterol) in STZ-di...

Changes in the estrogen/testosterone balance at menopause may negatively influence the development of diabetic kidney disease. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that changes in hormone levels during perimenopause may influence disease development. Injection of 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD) in B(6)C(3)F(1) mice induces gradual ovarian failure, preserving both the perimenopausal (peri-ovar...

PURPOSE This study was conducted to investigate whether retinoic acids (RAs) had any effect on apoptosis during the development of diabetic retinopathy. METHODS To investigate whether RAs had any effect on apoptosis during the development of diabetic retinopathy, we housed 32 C57BL/6 male mice and induced diabetes in 24 by intra peritoneal injections of streptozotocin (STZ; Sigma, St Louis, M...

Diabetic polyneuropathy is a major complication of diabetes and the most common cause of peripheral neuropathy. Sensory-dominant neuropathy is the most common type. We previously used streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic ddY mice with sensory neuropathy to evaluate the therapeutic effects of vascular endothelial growth factor and placental growth factor isoforms. In this study, to characterize...

Delayed reendothelialization contributes to restenosis after angioplasty and stenting in diabetes. Prior data have shown that bone marrow (BM)-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) contribute to endothelial recovery after arterial injury. We investigated the hypothesis that the EPC contribution to reendothelialization may be impaired in diabetes, resulting in delayed reendothelialization....

The toll-like receptor (TLR) has been suggested as a candidate cause for diabetic nephropathy. Recently, we have reported the TLR4 expression in diabetic mouse glomerular endothelium. The study here investigates the effects of the periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide (LPS) which is a ligand for TLR2 and TLR4 in diabetic nephropathy. In laser-scanning microscopy of gl...