Effects of bromocriptine on neuropathy in streptozotocin-nicotinamide-induced type 2 diabetes model in rats

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a growing and serious health problem. In addition, it is a serious cause of mortality and morbidity with its complications. In our study, we aimed to investigate the possible beneficial effects of bromocriptine in diabetic peripheral neuropathy, one of the most common complications of diabetes. We investigated the efficacy of bromocriptine compared with gabapentin in Wistar-albino rats in which T2DM was induced by streptozotocin-nicotinamide. We observed statistically significant improvement in metabolic markers and dynamic plantar test, thermal plantar test and cold plate test in which we evaluated mechanical allodynia, thermal hyperalgesia and cold allodynia. We performed locomotor activity, rotarod and footprint analysis tests to evaluate motor functions. We also performed morris water maze and passive avoidance tests to evaluate cognitive functions in T2DM. There are many studies on the mechanisms of action of bromocriptine with in vivo and in vitro systems. We believe that further research is needed to elucidate the mechanism of the positive effects of bromocriptine on DPN and to evaluate its ability to prevent and treat the disease.