New animal studies at Henry Ford Hospital found that sildenafil, a drug commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction, may be effective in relieving painful and potentially life-threatening nerve damage in men with long-term diabetes.
"Generally, young diabetic animals with an early stage of peripheral neuropathy are used to investigate various drug treatments," Dr. Wang explains. "But patients with diabetes who are enrolled in clinical trials often are older and have advanced peripheral neuropathy.
"Failure to develop and properly evaluate treatments in the laboratory that properly reflect the target clinical population with diabetic peripheral neuropathy may contribute to the failure of clinical trials."
However, it was not known if this therapeutic effect held true for long-term peripheral neuropathy because the diabetic mice used in the previous experiments were relatively young - 16 weeks old.
After a battery of nerve and function tests were performed on both the drug-treated and control groups, results "revealed that sildenafil markedly improved sensory function starting at six weeks after treatment compared with saline-treated diabetic mice," Dr. Wang says.
"These data indicate that sildenafil improves neurological function even in middle-aged mice with long-term diabetic peripheral neuropathy."
Over-the-counter and prescription drugs - including antidepressants and opiates - are available to treat neuropathy pain, but often have undesirable side effects.
Henry Ford Health System. "Study: Erectile dysfunction drug relieves nerve damage in diabetic mice ." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 19 Mar. 2015. Web.