Evaluation of treatment of the sciatic nerve by means of low intensity laser therapy in diabetic rats with neuropathy.

• Grant number: 11/08569-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2011
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Flávia Cristina Goulart
• Grantee: Fabio Go Ozawa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem and, disturbingly, it tends to become increasingly significant in the population. This is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by a framework of hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion and / or its mechanism of action. By persisting in the long term, hyperglycemia results in tissue-specific complications such as diabetic peripheral neuropathy. This involvement is characterized by morphological changes in the nerve fiber, that starts to make changes in the patterns of electrical conductivity, and the diabetic condition to a progressive loss of sensitivity, especially in the lower limbs, with potential risk of amputations of the feet. Many studies have linked the onset of the neuropathic reactive oxygen species, despite the defensive potential systemic determined by circulating enzymes such as superoxide dismutase. In contrast, combined with protection and anti-free radical, is a commonplace means of interventional therapeutic practice: laser irradiation of low intensity, can modulate cellular functions such as, for example, enhance the activity of superoxide dismutase. In view of this, in earlier pilot project, we determined the density of myelinated fibers in the distal branches of sciatic nerves, and not subject undergoing laser therapy, obtained from the hind legs left and right, respectively, from five Wistar rats induced to diabetes by streptozotocin, and the neuropathic process, after a period of four months. In the same way, five non-induced mice to diabetes, characterized as a control, were observed in this study. There was a significant decrease in density of myelinated axons in the diabetic animals compared to that observed in control animals. Already in the diabetic animals, administration of laser therapy provided a significant increase in the density of myelinated axons. However, our findings suggest that low intensity laser therapy does not influence the appearance and morphometric neurogenesis in normal nerve fibers and that further attenuates the expression of morphological changes in nerve fibers affected by diabetic neuropathy. Thus, this project aims to examine the response in a treatment protocol for laser therapy, low frequency of sessions of laser applications in diabetic rats with sciatic neuropathy, and to evaluate whether morphometric parameter and the concentration of superoxide dismutase are changed, and the functional responsiveness of the animal opposite the motor activity and sensory stimuli, as this parameter tends to change towards a state of neuropathy.