Six-Month Treatment with Sorbinil in Asymptomatic Diabetic Neuropathy: Failure to Improve Abnormal Nerve Function

The effect of long-term treatment with the aldose reductase inhibitor sorbinil (125 mg daily for 6 mo) was examined in 22 diabetic patients with subclinical abnormalities of nerve function. This was a placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover trial in which each of the two treatment periods lasted 6 mo. Peripheral nerve function was assessed electrophysiologically and by quantitative sensory testing; autonomie function was assessed by measurement of five cardiovascular reflexes and of mean heart rate from a 24-h ECG recording. Measurement of erythrocyte sorbitol concentrations demonstrated very significant inhibition of aldose reductase activity with sorbinil treatment, but no concomitant improvement in either peripheral or autonomie nerve function was observed.

[1]  D. Ewing,et al.  Effects of Sorbinil Treatment on Erythrocytes and Platelets of Persons with Diabetes , 1986, Diabetes Care.

[2]  D. Ewing,et al.  The Value of Cardiovascular Autonomic Function Tests: 10 Years Experience in Diabetes , 1985, Diabetes Care.

[3]  C. Berne,et al.  Limited benefit of treatment of diabetic polyneuropathy with an aldose reductase inhibitor: a 24-week controlled trial , 1985, Diabetologia.

[4]  J. Ulbrecht,et al.  Glucose-induced Alterations in Nerve Metabolism: Current Perspective on the Pathogenesis of Diabetic Neuropathy and Future Directions for Research and Therapy , 1985, Diabetes Care.

[5]  G. Gregersen,et al.  The effect of an aldose reductase inhibitor (Sorbinil®) on diabetic neuropathy and neural function of the retina: a double‐blind study , 1985, Acta neurologica Scandinavica.

[6]  I. O'Brien,et al.  Clinical and neurophysiological studies with the aldose reductase inhibitor, sorbinil, in symptomatic diabetic neuropathy , 1984, Diabetologia.

[7]  J. Malone,et al.  Red Blood Cell Sorbitol as an Indicator of Polyol Pathway Activity: Inhibition by Sorbinil in Insulin-dependent Diabetic Subjects , 1984, Diabetes.

[8]  K. Herold,et al.  TREATMENT OF SEVERELY PAINFUL DIABETIC NEUROPATHY WITH AN ALDOSE REDUCTASE INHIBITOR: RELIEF OF PAIN AND IMPROVED SOMATIC AND AUTONOMIC NERVE FUNCTION , 1983, The Lancet.

[9]  D. Ewing,et al.  A Controlled Trial of Sorbinil, an Aldose Reductase Inhibitor, in Chronic Painful Diabetic Neuropathy , 1983, Diabetes.

[10]  C. Popp‐Snijders,et al.  Determination of sorbitol in erythrocytes of diabetic and healthy subjects by capillary gas chromatography. , 1983, Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry.

[11]  J. Halter,et al.  Aldose reductase inhibition improves nerve conduction velocity in diabetic patients. , 1983, The New England journal of medicine.

[12]  P. Dyck,et al.  Human diabetic endoneurial sorbitol, fructose, and myo‐inositol related to sural nerve morphometry , 1980, Annals of neurology.

[13]  H. Fruhstorfer,et al.  Method for quantitative estimation of thermal thresholds in patients. , 1976, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.