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Neuroactive Steroids and Sex-Dimorphic Nervous Damage Induced by Diabetes Mellitus

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Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease where improper glycaemic control may induce severe complications in different organs. In this review, we will discuss alterations occurring in peripheral and central nervous system of patients with type 1 (i.e., insulin dependent diabetes mellitus,) or type 2 diabetes (i.e., non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus), as well as related experimental models. A particular focus will be on the role exerted by neuroactive steroids (i.e., important regulators of nervous functions) in the nervous damage induced by diabetes. Indeed, the nervous levels of these molecules are affected by the pathology and, in agreement, their neuroprotective effects have been reported. Interestingly, the sex is another important variable. As discussed, nervous diabetic complications show sex dimorphic features in term of incidence, functional outcomes and neuroactive steroid levels. Therefore, these features represent an interesting background for possible sex-oriented therapies with neuroactive steroids aimed to counteract nervous damage observed in diabetic pathology.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from MIUR-Progetto Eccellenza, Fondazione Cariplo to R.C.M. (Grant Number 2012-0547) and from Università degli Studi di Milano to S.G. (intramural Grant line-B).

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  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Farmacologiche e Biomolecolari, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Silvia Giatti, Silvia Diviccaro & Roberto Cosimo Melcangi

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  1. Silvia Giatti
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  2. Silvia Diviccaro
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  3. Roberto Cosimo Melcangi
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Giatti, S., Diviccaro, S. & Melcangi, R.C. Neuroactive Steroids and Sex-Dimorphic Nervous Damage Induced by Diabetes Mellitus. Cell Mol Neurobiol 39, 493–502 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-018-0613-6

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