Palmitoylethanolamide relieves pain and preserves pancreatic islet cells in a murine model of diabetes.

We previously demonstrated that the intraperitoneal administration of palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) in mice with chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve evoked a relief of both thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia in neuropathic mice. Since diabetic neuropathy is one of the most common long-term complications of diabetes, we explored the ability of PEA to also relief this kind of chronic pain, employing the well established streptozotocin-induced animal model of type 1 diabetes. Our findings demonstrated that PEA relieves mechanical allodynia, counteracts nerve growth factor deficit, improves insulin level, preserves Langerhans islet morphology reducing the development of insulitis in diabetic mice. These results suggest that PEA could be effective in type 1-diabetic patients not only as pain reliever but also in controlling the development of pathology.