Chain of Events — Diabetes causes nerve damage—“diabetic neuropathy”—in the majority of people with this disease. Painful diabetic neuropathy is the most incapacitating neuropathy syndrome. A paper in the May 13 issue of Nature Medicine describes for the first time the molecular chain of events responsible. Among the paper’s chief authors was Dr. Michael Brownlee, Einstein Diabetes Center’s Associate Director for Biomedical Sciences and the Anita and Jack Saltz Chair in Diabetes Research. The authors found that elevated levels of a toxic by-product of glucose metabolism called methylglyoxal (MG) bind to and change the structure of a sodium channel called Nav 1.8, found only in neurons involved in signaling pain. Consequences of this change in the “pain channel” include an increase in its electrical excitability. These findings may provide new therapeutic options for treating painful diabetic neuropathy.
Posted on: Thursday, June 07, 2012