ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the curative effect and mechanism of α lipoic acid combined with epalrestat and methylcobalamin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) complicated with pe-ripheral neuropathy ( DPN) . Methods A total of 160 cases of patients with DPN were randomly divided into the control group ( treated with methylcobalamin and epalrestat) and the observation group ( treated with methylcobalamin, epalrestat and α lipoic acid) , and all patients were treated for 4 weeks. The therapeutic effect, nerve conduction velocity, oxidative stress index and related proteins expression in serum were ob-served in two groups. Results The effective rate of treatment in the observation group was higher than that in the control group (87. 50％ vs 75. 0％) (χ2 = 4. 103,P<0. 05). After treatment, the sensory nerve conduction velocity ( SNCV) and motor nerve conduction velocity ( MNCV) of median nerve and common peroneal nerve were significantly better in the observation group than the control group ( P<0. 05 ) . After treatment, the level of superoxide dismutase ( SOD) was significantly higher in the observation group than the control group, while the level of malondialdehyde ( MDA ) was significantly lower the control group (P<0. 05). After treatment, the level of Bcl-2 protein was significantly higher in observation group than the control group, while the levels of Bax and Caspase-3 proteins were significantly lower than the control group (P<0. 05). Conclusions The application ofαlipoic acid combined to epalrestat and methylcobal-amin in the treatment of DPN can significantly improve the sensory and motor nerve conduction.