Methods of treating or preventing axonal degradation in neuropathic diseases and neurological disorders in mammals are disclosed. The methods can comprise administering to the mammal an effective amount of an agent that acts at least in part by increasing sirtuin AMPK activity, LKB1 activity and/or CaMKKβ activity in diseased and/or injured neurons. The methods can also comprise administering to the mammal an effective amount of an agent that acts by increasing NAD activity in diseased and/or injured neurons, alone or in combination with agents that act by other mechanisms. Also disclosed are methods of screening agents for treating a neuropathies and recombinant vectors for treating or preventing such neuropathies.
