ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the axonal transport of acetylcholine esterase and dopamine-beta-hydroxylase in patients with diabetic polyneuropathy. Peripheral nerve disease in diabetes includes a wide variety of clinical manifestations affecting somatic and autonomic functions. The classification of peripheral neuropathies in man is based on clinical, histologic, and neurophysiologic criteria. The etiology of diabetic neuropathy is unknown, but from histological reports it has been suggested that ischemia caused by diabetic angiopathy leads to the development of neuropathy. The chapter investigates the possibility of inducing a peripheral neuropathy by insulin treatment in rats. Some studies on axonal transport after administration of neurotoxic substances have changed the current view on the role of transport abnormalities in the development of neuropathies. A distal axonopathy is classified as such when pathology is selectively distal and progresses towards the nerve cell body. Proximal axonopathies are defined as disorders where the initial pathology is localized to the proximal part of the axon.
