Remodelling of the intracardiac ganglia in diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats: an anatomical study

摘要

Background Although cardiac autonomic neuropathy is one of major complications of diabetes mellitus (DM), anatomical data on cardiac innervation of diabetic animal models is scant and controversial. We performed this study to check whether long-term diabetic state impacts the anatomy of intracardiac ganglia in Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats, a genetic model of type 2 DM. Methods Twelve GK rats (276?±?17?days of age; mean?±?standard error) and 13 metabolically healthy Wistar rats (262?±?5?days of age) as controls were used for this study. Blood glucose was determined using test strips, plasma insulin by radioimmunoassay. Intrinsic ganglia and nerves were visualized by acetylcholinesterase histochemistry on whole hearts. Ganglion area was measured, and the neuronal number was assessed according to ganglion area. Results The GK rats had significantly elevated blood glucose level compared to controls (11.0?±?0.6 vs. 5.9?±?0.1?mmol/l, p?p?=?0.17). The GK rats contained significantly fewer intracardiac ganglia, decreased total area of intracardiac ganglia (1.4?±?0.1 vs. 2.2?±?0.1?mm2, p?p? Conclusions Results of our study demonstrate the decreased number of intracardiac neurons in GK rats compared to metabolically healthy Wistar rats of similar age. It is likely that the observed structural remodelling of intracardiac ganglia in GK rats is caused by a long-term diabetic state.