Diabetic neuropathy research: from mouse models to targets for treatment

Abstract

Diabetic neuropathy is one of the most serious complications of diabetes, and its increase shows no sign of stopping. Furthermore, current clinical treatments do not yet approach the best effectiveness. Thus, the development of better strategies for treating diabetic neuropathy is an urgent matter. In this review, we first discuss the advantages and disadvantages of some major mouse models of diabetic neuropathy and then address the targets for mechanism-based treatment that have been studied. We also introduce our studies on each part. Using stem cells as a source of neurotrophic factors to target extrinsic factors of diabetic neuropathy, we found that they present a promising treatment.

Keywords

• brain derived neurotrophic factor; diabetes; extrinsic factors; nerve growth factor; nerve regeneration; neurotrophic factors; non-obese type 2 diabetes; phosphatase and tensin homolog; stem cell; streptozotocin