Modeling diabetic sensory neuropathy in rats.

The procedures to induce insulin-deficient diabetes in rats using streptozotocin are described along with a number of insulin treatment regimes that can be used to maintain these animals at different degrees of glycemia for periods of weeks to months. Streptozotocin-diabetic rats develop tactile allodynia, hyperalgesia following paw formalin injection and abnormal responses to thermal stimulation and the detailed methods used to evaluate these behavioral indices of abnormal sensory function are provided.