ATP and polyphosphoinositide metabolism in normal and diabetic peripheral nerve

Polyphosphoinositides (PPI) play an important role in tissue activity and PPI metabolism is altered in experimental diabetic neuropathy. Previous studies have shown that 32P incorporation is significantly increased into phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) in sciatic nerve from streptozotocin-diabetic rats. It was also found that uptake of 32P into PIP2 in the proximal portion was more than 80% higher than in the distal portion of sciatic nerve and the altered metabolism of this lipid was predominantly associated with the distal portion in the diabetic states. The aims of the present study were to compare the metabolic characteristics of ATP and PIP2 and to investigate whether alterations in the precursor ATP pool could account for the changes in PIP2 labeling in diabetic nerve. [...]