A compound known as IGF-I reverses in rats the diabetes-caused nerve damage that undermines the body’s control of blood pressure, leads to incontinence or impotence, or triggers bouts of diarrhea or constipation.

Schmidt, R.E., et al. 1999. Insulin-like growth factor I reverses experimental diabetic autonomic neuropathy. American Journal of Pathology 155(November):1651.

Robert E. Schmidt
Washington University School of Medicine
Department of Pathology
Division of Neuropathology
660 South Euclid Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63110

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 24, December 11, 1999, p. 381. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.