Disorders

Research Grant - 2024

Research Category: Neuromuscular incl. Muscular Dystrophies, Myopathies & Neuropathies

Dr James Triplett was the recipient of Brain Foundation grant funding in 2024

Neuromuscular incl. Muscular Dystrophies, Myopathies & Neuropathies

Neuromuscular incl. Muscular Dystrophies, Myopathies & Neuropathies
Sphingolipid metabolism and the development of neuropathy in diabetes
Dr James Triplett
University of Adelaide
Co-Investigators : Dr Chinmay Marathe, Prof Michael Horowitz, A/Prof Thomas Kimber, Dr Chris Klein, Prof Thorsten Hornemann

Project Summary:

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is one of the most common complications of type 2 diabetes. Diabetic neuropathy causes a range of symptoms including autonomic dysfunction, pain, numbness, weakness and is associated with high rates of foot ulcerations. There is an urgent need to understand the cause of neuropathy in diabetes, ways to monitor it and to identify potential treatment options. 

This study will be performed at The Royal Adelaide Hospital, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University of Adelaide. It will involve assessing sphingolipid and neurofilament light chain levels in people with neuropathy associated with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes and the metabolic syndrome. 

Sphingolipids are a component of normal nerve structure and there is increasing evidence that people with diabetes produce increased amounts of abnormal deoxy-sphingolipids. Deoxy-sphingolipids are toxic to nerve cells and lead to the development of neuropathy. In a diabetic mouse model and in a hereditary condition associated with increased deoxy-sphingolipid levels dietary supplementation with serine improved neuropathy status. Neurofilament light chain is a protein that increases in the blood when there is injury to the nervous system and may be a marker of nerve damage due to diabetes. 

This project will increase the understanding of the contribution of abnormal deoxy-sphingolipids to the development of diabetic neuropathy and provide evidence for deoxy-sphingolipid analysis to be used as a way of identifying patients at risk of neuropathy. It will also assess if neurofilament light chain is a viable blood-based marker of nerve injury in diabetic neuropathy.

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