Electromyographic study of diabetic and alcoholic polyneuropathic patients treated with gangliosides.
A double-blind, randomized electromyographic investigation was conducted of the effects of cerebral ganglioside treatment on patients suffering from diabetic or alcoholic polyneuropathy. Cerebral gangliosides (50 mg once a day) administered to 15 diabetic and to 15 alcoholic neuropathic patients for 40 days, facilitated the reappearance of sensory potentials and significantly increased the MAP amplitude in median, ulnar, and peroneal nerves. In relation to ganglioside treatment, there was no significant change in the conduction velocities or in the distal latencies of these nerves, nor was there a change in the duration of the MAPs. On the basis of these results, it is suggested that the cerebral gangliosides are capable of inducing an improvement in the excitability of nerve fibers and of facilitating the processes of reinnervation, probably by means of an enhancement of fiber sprouting.
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications*; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004576:Electromyography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D005732:Gangliosides / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008475:Median Nerve / Q000187:drug effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000187:drug effects; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000187:drug effects; D009468:Neuromuscular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000188:drug therapy; D010543:Peroneal Nerve / Q000187:drug effects; D012677:Sensation / Q000187:drug effects; D014459:Ulnar Nerve / Q000187:drug effects
D005732:Gangliosides