Decreased axonal transport of structural proteins in streptozotocin diabetic rats.

We have examined the various axonal transport rates in sciatic nerve of streptozotocin diabetic rats 3 h and 10,25, and 50 d after the injection of tritiated proline into the fifth lumbar dorsal root ganglion. Proline-labeled proteins conveyed by the slow transport system were advanced more slowly in diabetic rats. No compensation for this delay took place in terms of protein synthesis, half-life, or transported amount. The decreased deliverance of slowly transported proteins (structural proteins) to the axons may well account for the reduced axon calibre shown in earlier reports. A hypothesis is proposed suggesting that the primary event in the development of neurological abnormalities in diabetes is an impairment of the retrograde axonal transport, secondarily leading to the abnormality of the anterograde transport of structural proteins.