Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Such a deficiency results in increased concentrations of glucose (sugar) in the blood, which can damage many of the body's systems. Diabetes mellitus is a known major risk factor of heart disease, negatively affecting the heart's contraction and rhythm, said Bengel.
Future research will need to focus on how regeneration of sympathetic nerves can be facilitated and how changes of the sympathetic nerve integrity in the heart are interrelated with changes of prognosis and outcome of diseases like diabetes mellitus, said Bengel.
"Effect of Diabetes Mellitus on Sympathetic Neuronal Regeneration Studied in the Model of Transplant Reinnervation" appears in the September issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, which is published by SNM. Other co-authors include Peter Ueberfuhr and Bruno Reichart, Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany; and Dominik Schäfer, Stephan G. Nekolla and Markus Schwaiger, all with the Technical University of Munich, Germany.
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Source:Society of Nuclear Medicine