Correction of Altered Metabolic Activities in Sciatic Nerves of Streptozocin-Induced Diabetic Rats: Effect of Ganglioside Treatment

The effect of ganglioside administration to nondiabetic and streptozocin-induced diabetic rats on sciatic nerve Na⁺-K⁺-ATPase, polyphosphoinositide (PPI) turnover, and protein phosphorylation was investigated. Gangliosides were injected (10 mg/kg body wt i.p.) for 10 or 30 days beginning 20 days after induction of diabetes. Na⁺-K⁺-ATPase activity was reduced nearly 50% in diabetic nerve and was restored to normal by both ganglioside treatments. The elevated levels of fructose and sorbitol and depressed content of myo-inositol in diabetic nerve were unaffected by 30 days of ganglioside treatment, indicating that the restoration of Na⁺-K⁺-ATPase activity is not dependent on normal concentrations of these compounds. In the same nerves, ³²P incorporation into phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate and phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate increased 73–76 and 39–53%, respectively, in diabetic compared with nondiabetic tissue. Ganglioside administration abolished the elevated labeling of PPIs after 30 days but was ineffective after only 10 days. Neither ganglioside regimen was able to reverse enhanced phosphorylation of the major peripheral nerve myelin protein P₀· The finding that gangliosides can more quickly correct the effects of diabetes on Na⁺-K⁺-ATPase activity than on PPI turnover suggests that the mechanisms underlying these two phenomena are not closely related and are distinct from the sequence of events responsible for altered myelin protein phosphorylation.