<p>This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p> <p>In order to explore the neuroprotective and crossspecies
activities of.C-peptide on type 1 diabetic
neuropathy, spontaneously diabetic BB/W-rats were
given increasing doses of human recombinant Cpeptide
(hrC-peptide). Diabetic rats received 10, 100,
500, or 1000 μg of hrC-peptide/kg body weight/
day from onset of diabetes. After 2 months of hrC-peptide
administration, 100 μg and greater doses
completely prevented the nerve conduction defect,
which was associated with a significant but incomplete
prevention of neural Na<sup>+</sup>/K<sup>+</sup>-ATPase activity
in diabetic rats with 500 μg or greater C-peptide replacement.
Increasing doses of hrC-peptide showed
increasing prevention of early structural abnormalities
such as paranodal swelling and axonal degeneration
and an increasing frequency of regenerating
sural nerve fibers. We conclude that hrC-peptide exerts
a dose dependent protection on type 1 diabetic
neuropathy in rats and that this effect is probably
mediated by the partially conserved sequence of the
active C-terminal pentapeptide</p>
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Int J Exp Diabetes Res. 2001; 2(3):187-193