Lee Yu-Shang, Hsiao Ian, Lin Vernon W
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, College of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, USA.
J Neurotrauma. 2002 Oct;19(10):1203-16. doi: 10.1089/08977150260338001.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree of functional recovery in adult rats with completely transected spinal cord following experimental treatment regimens that include implantation of peripheral nerve segments and local application of acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF). Rats were randomly divided to five groups: (1) spinal cord transection, (2) spinal cord transection and aFGF treatment, (3) spinal cord transection and peripheral nerve grafts, (4) spinal cord transection, aFGF treatment, and peripheral nerve grafts, and (5) sham control (laminectomy only). The locomotor behavior of all rats was analyzed by the Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) open field locomotor test over the six months survival time. Immunohistochemisty for neurofilament protein, and somatosensory (SSEP) and motor evoked potentials (MEP) were used to evaluate axon growth across the damage site following the different treatments. The results show four principal findings: (1) Only the combination of peripheral nerve grafts and aFGF treatment improved hindlimb locomotor function after spinal cord transection. (2) The SSEP and MEP demonstrated electrophysiological evidence of both sensory and motor information crossing the damaged site, but only in the combined nerve grafts and aFGF treatment rats. (3) Immunostaining demonstrated neurofilament positive axons extending through the graft area and into distal end of spinal cord, but only in the group with combined nerve grafts and aFGF treatment. (4) Retransection of group 4 rats eliminated the behavioral recovery, MEP, and SSEP responses, indicating that the improvement of hindlimb locomotor activity came from supraspinal control. These results demonstrate the ability of the repair strategy combining peripheral nerve grafts and aFGF treatment to facilitate the regeneration of spinal ascending and descending tracts and also recovery of motor behavior following spinal cord injury.
本研究的目的是评估成年大鼠在接受包括植入外周神经段和局部应用酸性成纤维细胞生长因子（aFGF）的实验性治疗方案后，脊髓完全横断后的功能恢复程度。大鼠被随机分为五组：（1）脊髓横断组，（2）脊髓横断+aFGF治疗组，（3）脊髓横断+外周神经移植组，（4）脊髓横断+aFGF治疗+外周神经移植组，以及（5）假手术对照组（仅行椎板切除术）。在六个月的存活期内，通过Basso、Beattie和Bresnahan（BBB）旷场运动测试分析所有大鼠的运动行为。使用神经丝蛋白免疫组织化学、体感诱发电位（SSEP）和运动诱发电位（MEP）来评估不同治疗后轴突穿过损伤部位的生长情况。结果显示四个主要发现：（1）只有外周神经移植和aFGF治疗的联合应用改善了脊髓横断后的后肢运动功能。（2）SSEP和MEP显示了感觉和运动信息穿过损伤部位的电生理证据，但仅在联合神经移植和aFGF治疗的大鼠中。（3）免疫染色显示神经丝阳性轴突穿过移植区域并延伸到脊髓远端，但仅在联合神经移植和aFGF治疗的组中。（4）第4组大鼠再次横断消除了行为恢复、MEP和SSEP反应，表明后肢运动活动的改善来自脊髓以上的控制。这些结果证明了外周神经移植和aFGF治疗相结合的修复策略促进脊髓上下行束再生以及脊髓损伤后运动行为恢复的能力。
