Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011849 (diabetes)
277,896 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Tolrestat is a well tolerated nonhydantoin aldose reductase inhibitor that has been reported to improve nerve conduction in diabetic animals and humans. Its effects on nerve biochemistry and structure have not been studied in patients with diabetic neuropathy. Patients with advanced diabetic neuropathy treated with long-term open-label tolrestat were randomly assigned to continuation on drug treatment or to placebo-controlled drug withdrawal for 12 months. At the end of this period, sural nerve biopsies were obtained for measurement of glucose, sorbitol, and fructose content, and for detailed morphometric analysis. Tolrestat ameliorated the glucose-mediated increase in sorbitol and fructose in sural nerve tissue. No statistically significant differences in nerve morphometry emerged between the two groups; however, both treatment groups exhibited increased nerve-fiber regeneration and normalization of axo-glial dysfunction and segmental demyelination following long-term tolrestat treatment. These findings are similar to those previously reported in a placebo-controlled sequential nerve biopsy study with the aldose reductase inhibitor sorbinil. Thus tolrestat is a biochemically effective aldose reductase inhibitor in human diabetic nerve with potential therapeutic efficacy for diabetic neuropathy.
J Diabetes Complications
PMID:Effect of hyperglycemia and the aldose reductase inhibitor tolrestat on sural nerve biochemistry and morphometry in advanced diabetic peripheral polyneuropathy. The Tolrestat Study Group. 834 10

Tolrestat is an aldose reductase inhibitor undergoing clinical trials in diabetic subjects that may reduce the severity of chronic tissue damage associated with hyperglycemia. These studies were conducted to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of tolrestat in healthy young and elderly male and female subjects and in young and elderly subjects with diabetes. The drug was administered in a multiple-dose regimen, and steady-state parameters were obtained. There were no important gender-related differences, but mean values for apparent oral clearance, renal clearance, and corresponding unbound parameters were significantly lower for the elderly healthy subjects than for the young healthy subjects. The drug is highly bound to plasma proteins, and the unbound fraction (0.75%) did not differ among the subjects. The results from young and elderly diabetic subjects suggest that diabetes per se has no influence on tolrestat disposition but that there is an age-related reduction in apparent oral clearance (30 versus 18 ml/hr/kg) and a corresponding increase in the minimum steady-state plasma concentration (1.2 versus 1.9 micrograms/ml). These data indicate a possible need to reduce the dose of tolrestat in elderly subjects, assuming the same concentration-response relationship.
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PMID:Pharmacokinetics of the aldose reductase inhibitor tolrestat: studies in healthy young and elderly male and female subjects and in subjects with diabetes. 868 85

Hyperglycemia is of central importance in the pathogenesis of the complications of diabetes mellitus. Glucose activation of the polyol pathway may lead to renal arteriolar smooth muscle and glomerular mesangial cell hypocontractility. In the streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat, the effect of the aldose reductase inhibitor, tolrestat, in preventing glomerular hyperfiltration, renal hypertrophy, extracellular matrix accumulation, and mesangial cell hypocontractility was addressed. Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats were followed for 12 weeks and half received tolrestat (25 mg/kg per day). Increased glomerular filtration rate was prevented by tolrestat (3.1 +/- 0.3 vs. 1.8 +/- 0.2 mL/min, diabetes vs. diabetes + tolrestat, p < 0.01), in part by reduction of the filtration fraction (0.39 +/- 0.03 vs. 0.29 +/- 0.01, diabetes vs. diabetes + tolrestat, p < 0.01). Tolrestat prevented the raised albumin excretion rates (3594 +/- 1154 vs. 713 +/- 161 mg/24 h, diabetes vs. diabetes + tolrestat, p < 0.01). Endothelin-1-induced contraction of isolated glomeruli was normal in tolrestat-treated diabetic animals compared with the hypocontractile diabetic glomeruli. Tolrestat prevented glomerular hypertrophy (1.86 +/- 0.10 vs. 1.49 +/- 0.03 microns 2 x 10(5), diabetes vs. diabetes + tolrestat, p < 0.001) and attenuated the accumulation of basement-membrane-like material (50.2 +/- 0.4% vs. 46.4 +/- 0.8%, diabetes vs. diabetes+tolrestat, p < 0.001). Fractional mesangial expansion was unchanged in tolrestat-treated diabetic rats compared with untreated animals. Tolrestat prevents the functional changes of glomerular hyperfiltration, mesangial cell hypocontractility, and increased glomerular permeability to albumin. Polyol accumulation may have differential effects on glomerular growth and extracellular matrix accumulation in early diabetic nephropathy.
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PMID:Prevention of early glomerulopathy with tolrestat in the streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat. 888 41

The current study aimed to evaluate whether nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) alteration in erythrocytes from patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) is responsible for the impaired glutathione (GSH) redox status, and to assess if short-term inhibition of the polyol pathway normalizes NADPH levels and GSH redox status via an amelioration of the NADPH/total NADP (tNADP) ratio. For this purpose, erythrocyte NADPH and GSH levels were measured in 18 NIDDM patients at baseline and then after 1 week of random double-blind assignment to treatment with either tolrestat (an aldose reductase inhibitor, 200 mg daily) (n = 12) or placebo (n = 6). A group of 16 healthy volunteers served as the control. In the basal condition, mean GSH (P < .0001) and NADPH (P < .0001) levels and NADPH/tNADP (P < .0001) and GSH/ glutathione disulfide (GSSG) (P < .005) ratios were lower in NIDDM patients than in control subjects. Tolrestat treatment increased GSH levels (P < .05 v placebo and baseline) and the NADPH/tNADP ratio (P < .05 v placebo and baseline). Interestingly, tolrestat-induced changes in GSH and NADPH levels and in GSH/GSSG and NADPH/tNADP ratios were significant only in patients who showed a decreased NADPH/tNADP ratio at baseline (n = 8). In these latter patients, we also found a direct correlation between percentage increments in GSH levels and NADPH/tNADP ratios after tolrestat treatment (r = .71, P < .05). In conclusion, our findings support the hypothesis that polyol pathway activation decreases NADPH and GSH levels. Accordingly, short-term inhibition of this enzymatic route increased both the GSH level and the NADPH/tNADP ratio. These changes were observable only in the subgroup of patients with an abnormal NADPH/tNADP ratio at baseline. Polyol pathway inhibition could be useful for decreasing oxidative stress in NIDDM.
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PMID:Polyol pathway activation and glutathione redox status in non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients. 932 6

Aldose reductase (AR) has been implicated in the etiology of the secondary complications of diabetes, and enzyme inhibitors have been proposed as therapeutic agents. While effectively preventing the development of diabetic complications in animals, results from clinical studies of AR inhibitors have been disappointing, possibly due to poor potency in man. To assist in the design of more potent and specific inhibitors, crystallographic studies have attempted to identify enzyme-inhibitor interactions. Resolution of crystal complexes has suggested that the inhibitors bind to the enzyme active site and are held in place through hydrogen bonding and van der Waals interactions formed within two hydrophobic pockets. To confirm and extend these findings we quantified inhibitor activity with single, site-directed, mutant, human AR enzymes in which the apolar active-site residues tryptophan 20, -79, -111 and phenylalanine 115 were replaced with alanine or tyrosine, decreasing the potential for van der Waals interactions. Consistent with molecular models, the inhibitory activity of Tolrestat, Sorbinil and Zopolrestat decreased 800-2000-fold when tested with the mutant enzyme in which Trp20 was replaced with alanine. Further, alanine substitution for Trp111 decreased Zopolrestat's activity 400-fold, while mutations to Trp79 and Phe115 had little effect on the activity of any of the inhibitors. The alanine mutation at Trp111 had no effect on Tolrestat's activity but decreased the activity of Sorbinil by about 1000-fold. These latter effects were unanticipated based on the number of non-bonded interactions between the inhibitors, Tolrestat and Sorbinil, and Trp20 and Trp111 that have been identified in the crystal structures. In spite of these unexpected findings, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that AR inhibitors occupy the enzyme active site and that hydrophobic interactions between the enzyme and inhibitor contribute to inhibitor binding stability.
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PMID:Probing the inhibitor-binding site of aldose reductase with site-directed mutagenesis. 976 Jan 69

The important role of ascorbic acid (AA) as an anti-oxidant is particularly relevant in diabetes mellitus where plasma concentrations of AA are reduced. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of treatment with AA or an aldose reductase inhibitor, tolrestat, on AA metabolism and urinary albumin excretion in diabetes. Blood and urine samples were collected at 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months from 20 diabetic subjects who were randomized into two groups to receive either oral AA 500 mg twice daily or placebo. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures, HbA1c, plasma lipids, urinary albumin, and total glycosaminoglycan excretion were measured at all time points, and heparan sulphate (glycosaminoglycan) was measured at 0 and 12 months. The same parameters, as well as urinary AA excretion, were determined at 0 and 3 months for 16 diabetes subjects receiving 200 mg tolrestat/day. AA treatment increased plasma AA (ANOVA, F ratio = 12.1, p = 0.004) and reduced albumin excretion rate (AER) after 9 months (ANOVA, F ratio = 3.2, p = 0.03), but did not change the other parameters measured. Tolrestat lowered plasma AA (Wilcoxon's signed-rank test, p < 0.05), but did not change AER or the other parameters measured. The ability of AA treatment to decrease AER may be related to changes in extracellular matrix or improvement in oxidative defence mechanism. Unlike the rat model of diabetes, inhibition of aldose reductase did not normalize plasma AA or AER in humans. In fact, tolrestat reduced the plasma AA concentration, a phenomenon which may be due to increased utilization of AA. Dietary supplementation of AA in diabetic subjects may have long-term benefits in attenuating the progression of diabetic complications.
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PMID:Administration of ascorbic acid and an aldose reductase inhibitor (tolrestat) in diabetes: effect on urinary albumin excretion. 980 36

We have previously demonstrated that in some non-insulin-sensitive tissues (capillaries of eel swimbladder Rete mirabile, and rabbit eye choroidocapillary lamina, optic nerve, retina, and lens) glucose phosphorylation increases with the increase in the concentration of glucose, a characteristic relevant to the hyperglycemia of diabetes. In the present research we demonstrate an effect of the aldose reductase inhibitor, Tolrestat, on the glucose-phosphorylating activity of rabbit lens and optic nerve, by assaying the enzyme activity of tissue homogenates (in the presence of 10 mmol/L glucose) without or with 10 min preincubation with increasing concentrations of Tolrestat (2, 4, and 8 micromol/L). In the lens, a 18% inhibition (p < 0.01) was observed in the presence of 8 micromol/L Tolrestat. In the optic nerve, a 12% (p < 0.05) and a 21% (p < 0.01) reduction was recorded at 4 and 8 micromol/L Tolrestat, respectively. Significant inverse correlations existed between the concentration of Tolrestat and the phosphorylation rate of glucose of rabbit lens and optic nerve. The dose-dependent inhibition of glucose phosphorylation observed by us suggests that the inhibitory action of Tolrestat on glucose metabolism extends beyond the well-known effects of this compound on the polyol pathway, and might contribute to the refraining action of Tolrestat on the development and progression of late diabetic complications in non-insulin-sensitive tissues.
J Diabetes Complications
PMID:In vitro inhibition of glucose phosphorylation by an aldose-reductase inhibitor (Tolrestat) in some non-insulin-sensitive rabbit tissues. 1043 69

The regenerative ability of unmyelinated nerve fibers (UNFs) in diabetes and the effect of aldose reductase inhibitor (ARI) on it were ultrastructurally evaluated after sciatic nerve crush in control and untreated and tolrestat-treated streptozocin-induced diabetic rats. The density and number of UNFs were significantly increased in all groups at 5 weeks after the injury. The increase returned to the baseline level in control rats, but not in diabetic rats at 24 weeks. Although the axon size showed a marked decrease at 5 weeks and an incomplete recovery at 24 weeks in all groups, the recovery was significantly worse in diabetic than in control groups. Tolrestat did not have any effect on regeneration of UNFs in diabetes. These results suggest impaired regeneration of UNFs after nerve crush injury in diabetes and less therapeutic effect of ARI on it.
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PMID:Impaired regeneration and no amelioration with aldose reductase inhibitor in crushed unmyelinated nerve fibers of diabetic rats. 1043 72

Increased activation of the first half of the polyol pathway, the conversion of glucose to sorbitol by aldose reductase, has been implicated in aldose reductase inhibitor-preventable neurochemical changes that may contribute to the aetiology of diabetic neuropathy. Tolrestat has been used as a standard aldose reductase inhibitor to dissect out polyol pathway-dependent mechanisms in many experimental studies; however, doubt has been cast upon its ability to prevent nerve conduction velocity deficits in diabetic rats. Nerve dysfunction has also been linked to abnormal endoneurial blood flow and oxygenation via increased vasa nervorum polyol pathway flux. The aim of this study was to test whether tolrestat could correct sciatic conduction velocity and perfusion defects in diabetic rats. Sciatic motor conduction velocity, 21% reduced by 1 month of streptozotocin-induced diabetes, was corrected by 23% and 84% with 1 month of tolrestat treatment at doses of 7 and 35 mg/kg/day respectively. Endoneurial blood flow, 44-52% reduced by untreated diabetes, was within the nondiabetic range with high-dose tolrestat treatment and the flow deficit was 39% corrected by the low dose. Sciatic sorbitol and fructose concentrations were approximately 13-fold and approximately 4-fold elevated by untreated diabetes. This was 32-50% attenuated by low-dose tolrestat and sorbitol and fructose content was suppressed below the nondiabetic level by high dose treatment. A 58% nerve myo-inositol deficit was partially (32%) corrected by high-dose tolrestat treatment. We conclude that tolrestat restores defective conduction and blood flow in diabetic rats and is a good pharmacological tool for studies on polyol pathway effects in peripheral nerve.
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PMID:Correction of nerve conduction and endoneurial blood flow deficits by the aldose reductase inhibitor, tolrestat, in diabetic rats. 1095 52

Patients with diabetic autonomic neuropathy (DAN) have an increased cardiovascular mortality rate compared with diabetic patients without DAN. Heart rate variability (HRV) time and frequency domain indices are strong predictors of malignant arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. This prospective, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study analysed the long-term effect of an aldose reductase inhibitor, tolrestat, on HRV time and frequency domain variables in 45 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and DAN. Patients were randomised into tolrestat (n = 22) and placebo (n = 23) groups. Tolrestat (200 mg/day) or placebo were administered, respectively, for a period of 12 months. HRV was assessed at months 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12. The HRV level of the 45 patients was compared with that of 20 patients with DM, with analogous glycaemic control, without DAN and 20 healthy controls, of similar age and gender. At the twelfth month, tolrestat, compared with placebo, had a beneficial effect on HRV indices related to vagal tone. Compared with baseline, HRV time and frequency domain indices showed no significant improvement. Moreover, at the twelfth month of tolrestat administration, HRV indices remained less than that of patients with DM but without DAN, and healthy controls. The 12 patients of the 22 with moderate DAN benefited more than the 10 patients of the 22 with severe DAN. At the twelfth month no patient showed deterioration in HRV indices with tolrestat as was seen with placebo. Our data suggest that tolrestat slows down the progression of DAN compared with placebo. This effect of an aldose reductase inhibitor may contribute to a reduction in risk for malignant ventricular arrhythmias. The early detection of DAN is imperative for successful intervention.
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PMID:Effect of aldose reductase inhibition on heart rate variability in patients with severe or moderate diabetic autonomic neuropathy. 1837 Apr 75


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