European Journal of Pharmacology 2006-09-18

N-hexacosanol reverses diabetic induced muscarinic hypercontractility of ileum in the rat.

Chiko Shinbori, Motoaki Saito, Yukako Kinoshita, Itaru Satoh, Tomoharu Kono, Takuya Hanada, Eiji Nanba, Kaori Adachi, Hiroto Suzuki, Masashi Yamada, Keisuke Satoh

Index: Eur. J. Pharmacol. 545(2-3) , 177-84, (2006)

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Abstract

Diabetic neuropathy, a major complication of diabetes mellitus, is associated with development of gastrointestinal motility dysfunction and autonomic neuropathy. N-hexacosanol has neurotrophic effects and exhibits a wide variety of biological actions. In this study, we investigated the effects of cyclohexenonic long-chain fatty alcohol (N-hexacosanol) on streptozotocin-diabetic hypercontractility in the rat ileum longitudinal muscles. Treatment with N-hexacosanol did not alter the diabetic status of the animals, i.e., body weight, serum glucose, and serum insulin levels, but significantly restored the thickness of intestine wall and ameliorated diabetes-induced hypercontractility of the rat ileum in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, N-hexacosanol reversed the diabetes-induced upregulation of intestinal muscarinic M(2) and M(3) receptors mRNAs in the streptozotocin-diabetic rats. These results indicate that N-hexacosanol has therapeutic effects on hypercontractility in the diabetic ileum by ameliorating overexpression of muscarinic M(2) and M(3) receptors mRNAs.