Factors Associated with Diabetic Neuropathy in Rats: a Systematic Review with Metanalysis

Diabetic neuropathy refers to a group of symptoms associated with the nerve’s damaged ability to perform its functions correctly. Symptoms may vary from paresis to pains that mainly affect sensitive or motor long nerves of feet and hands. Hence, experiments and analysis carried out with rodents, especially rats, allow several clinical interfaces to be known. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the factors associated with diabetic neuropathy in rats. This is a systematic review with metanalysis. Data collection followed some prior election criteria. The sources of information for the researched data are the databases MEDLINE/PubMed and Scopus. The research was conducted using the keywords found in descriptors/MeSH: rats, diabetic neuropathies, and risk factors with the Boolean operator “AND”. The BioEstat 5.3 was used for statistical analysis, and the Odds Ratio was calculated with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Eighty-three references were found, of which 17 followed the criteria and were then included in the present review. Some factors like nerve morphology, blood hypertension, oxidative stress, diabetes period, hypoglycemic effect, vascular complications, and insulin parameters represent the main risk factors for the development of diabetic neuropathy, as well as diabetes induction in rats by using drugs. Such factors are very similar to those from humans, thus requiring a deeper analysis of the theme in a considerable human sample. Factors Associated with Diabetic Neuropathy in Rats: a Systematic Review with Metanalysis