Abstract:
<p align="justify"> The link between the polyol pathway and the ocular complications of diabetes mellitus is explained by the excessive storage of sorbitol and the release of osmotic stress. The renal complications could also be explained by the osmotic hypothesis, but the polyol pathway activity is reduced in this case. The study of sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH) activity, one of the enzymes involved in the catabolism of glucose by this pathway in renal and hepatic homogenates from diabetic animals, shows a constant increase of the hepatic enzyme activity compared to that at the renal level. The different variation of the renal SDH activity can be explained by the effect of hyperglycemia on the active form of the enzyme and its inactivation by nonenzymatic glycosylation </p>