A study of the possible relationship of serum dopamine-beta-hydroxylase activity with diabetic neuropathy.

Abstract

Serum DBH activity in a normal population of 58 individuals shows a gaussian distribution, on the opposite to what happens in a population of 100 diabetics. These two populations also differ statistically by the analysis of variance. However it was round that it is not possible to correlate serum DBH neither with insulin administration, type of diabetes, duration of disease, nor with the severity of the involvement of the peripheral nerves. It is hypothesized that the variation of DBH in diabetics may have a multifactorial cause, resulting from several metabolic and circulatory alterations that accompany the disease.