Abstract

The effect of a dietary supplement of an aldose reductase inhibitor (ponalrestat) or of myo-inositol on sodium transport into the rat brain and on concentrations of saccharide and polyols in cortical brain tissue and sciatic nerve was investigated in control rats and in streptozotocin-diabetic rats after a diabetes duration of 2 weeks. In untreated diabetes, the neocortical blood-brain barrier permeability for sodium decreased by 28% ( 3.4 ± 0.4 vs 4.7 ±1.6 × 10 −5ml/s g,mean±SD ) as compared to controls. Levels of glucose, sorbitol and fructose increased in brain as well as in nerve tissues, whereas myo-inositol depletion was not demonstrable. Ponalrestat treatment of diabetic animals had no effect upon the decreased neocortical blood-brain barrier permeability to sodium ( 3.5 ±0.9 vs 4.7 ± 1.1 × 10 −5ml/s g ) despite normalization of brain and nerve content of sorbitol and fructose. Myo-inositol supplementation of diabetic rats normalized sodium passage into the brain ( 4.2 ± 1.1 vs 4.4 ±0.5 × 10 −5ml/s g ). Brain concentrations of monosaccharides and polyols were normalized as compared to the myo-inositol treated control group and nerve concentrations of glucose, sorbitol, and fructose were significantly increased. Myo-inositol treatment leads to a normalization of blood-brain barrier permeability; it is suggested that myo-inositol exerts a restituting effect upon Na +/K +-ATPase activity of the cerebral endothelial cells.

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