[Enzymatic study of peripheral nervous tissue and the retinas of rats subjected to experimental hyperglycemia: effect of ganglioside administration].

The authors submitted to alloxan hyperglycemia albino rats of the Wistar strain. Alloxan is a sulphydryl poison, characterized by its selective action on the beta-cells of the islets of Langerhans. Rats were partly treated with a mixture of gangliosides both for 10 days before hyperglycemia induction and during the following experimental period. Treatment with gangliosides caused in both groups a precocious and significant normalization of metabolic variation seen in hyperglycemic non treated rats. The Authors discuss the physiopathologic significance of the enzymatic variations found in two nervous structures, retina and sciatic nerve, in which initial diabetes-like condition has been induced. Gangliosides, whose use is warranted by recent studies about their effect in cell membrane function, seem to suggest, in this case, a preeminent metabolic action, also if their role is still not completely clear.