Neurophysiological variables and fibrinolysis in insulin-dependent diabetes treated with an aldose reductase inhibitor or placebo: A double-blind randomized study

In a double-blind study we randomized insulin-dependent diabetics (n = 19) into a group (n = 12) given daily 250 mg Sorbinil, a potent aldose reductase inhibitor reported to ameliorate diabetic neuropathy, and another group (n = 7) given placebo for 1 year. Objective, neurophysiological variables (biothesiometry, electromyography, nyctometri) were followed throughout the study and correlated with fibrinolytic variables in blood. We found that Sorbinil did not improve any of the selected neurophysiological variables. Neither did Sorbinil induce marked changes in the fibrinolytic activities of the extrinsic, tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA), or in the intrinsic factor XII-dependent or factor XII-independent (urokinase-like) plasminogen activator systems. We found no effect of Sorbinil on the activity of the fast-reacting inhibitor (PA-I) of plasminogen activator. Levels of PA-I in plasma influence the amounts of t-PA precipitated in euglobulins.