title: Preventive effect of acetyl-L-carnitine on the thermal hypoalgesia in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice.
abstract: Hypoalgesia is one of the serious complications in diabetes. Since there are few therapeutic treatments for this diabetic hypoalgesia, the present study was designed to examine the effect of acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) on the changes of nociceptive threshold in diabetic mice. For prophylactic study, ALC was administered once daily from 1 day after the streptozotocin treatment. Diabetic mice showed shorter tail-flick latency at 1-4 weeks after the streptozotocin treatment and longer tail-flick latency at 6-9 weeks after the streptozotocin treatment. The shortened tail-flick latency in early stage of diabetic mice was not affected by prophylactic treatment with ALC. On the other hand, ALC dose-dependently improved the hypoalgesia in diabetic mice. For therapeutic study, ALC was administered once daily from 7 weeks after the streptozotocin treatment, when tail-flick latency was already prolonged. The therapeutic treatment with ALC also ameliorated the prolonged tail-flick latency in diabetic mice. Both prophylactic and therapeutic treatment with ALC did not affect the tail-flick latency in non-diabetic mice, indicating ALC did not affect the general nociceptive transmission. These results provide evidence of the prophylactic and therapeutic potential of ALC on the progressive diabetic neuropathy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology and Therapeutics, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hoshi University, 4-41, Ebara 2-Chome, Shinagawa-Ku, Tokyo, 142-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohsawa
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyata
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carlsson
authors.forename: Junzo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kamei
mesh_terms: D000108:Acetylcarnitine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000187:drug effects*; D011930:Reaction Time; D013311:Streptozocin
chemical_list: D013311:Streptozocin; D000108:Acetylcarnitine