Electrical stimulation as a conditioning strategy for promoting and accelerating peripheral nerve regeneration.
Exp Neurol
; 302: 75-84, 2018 04.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29291403
The delivery of a nerve insult (a "conditioning lesion") prior to a subsequent test lesion increases the number of regenerating axons and accelerates the speed of regeneration from the test site. A major barrier to clinical translation is the lack of an ethically acceptable and clinically feasible method of conditioning that does not further damage the nerve. Conditioning electrical stimulation (CES), a non-injurious intervention, has previously been shown to improve neurite outgrowth in vitro. In this study, we examined whether CES upregulates regeneration-associated gene (RAG) expression and promotes nerve regeneration in vivo, similar to a traditional nerve crush conditioning lesion (CCL). Adult rats were divided into four cohorts based on conditioning treatment to the common peroneal (fibular) nerve: i) CES (1h, 20Hz); ii) CCL (10s crush); iii) sham CES (1h, 0Hz); or iv) naïve (unconditioned). Immunofluorescence and qRT-PCR revealed significant RAG upregulation in the dorsal root ganglia of both CES and CCL animals, evident at 3-14days post-conditioning. To mimic a clinical microsurgical nerve repair, all cohorts underwent a common peroneal nerve cut and coaptation one week following conditioning. Both CES and CCL animals increased the length of nerve regeneration (3.8-fold) as well as the total number of regenerating axons (2.2-fold), compared to the sham and naïve-conditioned animals (p<0.001). These data support CES as a non-injurious conditioning paradigm that is comparable to a traditional CCL and is therefore a novel means to potentially enhance peripheral nerve repair in the clinical setting.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Regulação da Expressão Gênica
/
Terapia por Estimulação Elétrica
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Neuropatias Fibulares
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Regeneração Nervosa
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Aspecto:
Ethics
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Exp Neurol
Ano de publicação:
2018
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Canadá
País de publicação:
Estados Unidos