One of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus is diabetic neuropathy. It may be provoked by metabolic and/or vascular factors, and depending on duration of disease, various layers of nerve may be affected. Our aim was to investigate influence of diabetes on the epineurial, perineurial, and endoneurial connective tissue sheaths. The study included 15 samples of sural nerve divided into three groups: diabetic group, peripheral vascular disease group, and control group. After morphological analysis, morphometric parameters were determined for each case using ImageJ software. Compared to the control group, the diabetic cases had significantly higher perineurial index (P < 0.05) and endoneurial connective tissue percentage (P < 0.01). The diabetic group showed significantly higher epineurial area (P < 0.01), as well as percentage of endoneurial connective tissue (P < 0.01), in relation to the peripheral vascular disease group. It is obvious that hyperglycemia and ischemia present in diabetes lead to substantial changes in connective tissue sheaths of nerve, particularly in peri- and endoneurium. Perineurial thickening and significant endoneurial fibrosis may impair the balance of endoneurial homeostasis and regenerative ability of the nerve fibers. Future investigations should focus on studying the components of extracellular matrix of connective tissue sheaths in diabetic nerves.
The aim of our study was to analyze the changes of connective tissue sheaths of epi-, peri-and endoneurium of sural nerve during aging.The study was conducted on sural nerve samples of 10 cases aged 9-80 years. The specimens were embedded in paraffin using standard procedures, after which 5-μm-thick crosssections of nerve trunks were made and stained using Masson's trichrome staining. After morphological analysis of fascicular structure and connective sheaths of the nerve, morphometric analysis was conducted using the software for digital image analysis "ImageJ". Each investigated case was analyzed for total neural, epineurial and fascicular cross-section area, mean values of perineurial index, volume density of myelinated axons and of endoneurial content. To test the difference in mean values for statistical significance we used the Student's T-test for small independent sample.The number of fascicles was 5-13, while the majority of the nerves had less than 10 fascicles. Fascicular structure, which included the number of fascicles and epifascicular/fascicular area ratio, did not show significant changes during aging. Perineurial thickness /fascicle size ratio statistically significantly increased in the older investigated group (p<0.05). Myelinated fibres were of smaller diameter, with more irregular form and markedly less frequent in older cases. Quantitative analysis showed statistically significant decrease in volume density of myelinated fibres in the older group.As results of applied investigation methods we found thickening of perineurial sheath of sural nerve during aging, as well as endoneurial fibrosis. Future investigations of age-related changes should focus on analysis of the components of extracellular matrix within perineurium and endoneurium.
Although genetic variations rs780094 and rs1260326 of the glucokinase
regulatory protein gene (GCKR) could be associated with lipid profile
imbalance, their influence on acute ischemic stroke (AIS) risk has not yet
been established. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of
GCKR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs780094 and rs1260326 on lipid
profile parameters in patients with AIS, and to evaluate the association of
these SNPs with the risk of AIS. In a casecontrol study, a total of 148
subjects were screened for GCKR rs780094 and rs1260326 SNPs using the
polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism
(PCR-RFLP) method. The lipid profile was determined based on serum total
cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density
lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triacylglycerol (TG) concentrations. The
frequencies of the minor rs780094T allele and the minor rs1260326T allele
were significantly lower in AIS patients compared to controls. The
rs780094TT genotype and the rs1260326TT genotype were associated with
decreased risk of AIS compared to wildtype carriers. In conclusion, this is
the first study implying that decreased risk of AIS in rs780094 and
rs1260326 homozygous minor allele carriers is not caused by dyslipidemia,
but possibly by the lack of coagulation factor glycosylation.
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