Tang Jinrong, Hua Ye, Su Jianhua, Zhang Ping, Zhu Xuejiang, Wu Le, Niu Qi, Xiao Hang, Ding Xinsheng
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210 029, China.
Neurol India. 2009 Jul-Aug;57(4):387-94. doi: 10.4103/0028-3886.55583.
Vasoactive drug alprostadil improves microcirculation and can be effective in treating disorders of peripheral nerves. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been shown to have protective action in cerebral ischemia, disorders of spinal cord, and also peripheral nerves. However, the mechanism of action of VEGF in peripheral nerve injuries is uncertain.
To study the effect of application of alprostadil on the pathological and functional repair of crush nerve injuries and also the expression of VEGF.
Rat sciatic nerves were crushed by pincers to establish the model of crush injury. All of the 400 sprague dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into: Control; saline; saline+VEGF-antibody; alprostadil; and alprostadil+VEGF antibody groups. The SPSS 11.5 software was used for statistical analysis. The expression of VEGF in dorsal root ganglia (DRGs), following crush injury to sciatic nerves, was studied by reverse transcribed-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunohistochemistry, electromicroscope, and electrophysiology. The effects of alprostadil on expression of VEGF, repair of neural pathology, and recovery of neural function were also evaluated.
We found that VEGF messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) was significantly increased in alprostadil and alprostadil+VEGF-antibody groups, compared to the saline and saline+VEGF antibody groups. The number of VEGF-positive neurons was significantly increased in the alprostadil group, compared to the saline, saline+VEGF antibody, and alprostadil+VEGF antibody groups. Besides, addition of this drug also caused less pathological changes in DRGs, better improvement of nerve conduction velocities of sciatic nerves, and more increase of toe spaces of right hind limbs of rats.
The vasoactive agent alprostadil may reduce the pathological lesion of peripheral nerves and improve the rehabilitation of the neural function, which may relate to upregulation of the expression of VEGF, following crush injury to the peripheral nerves.
血管活性药物前列地尔可改善微循环，对周围神经疾病有效。血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）已被证明在脑缺血、脊髓疾病以及周围神经中具有保护作用。然而，VEGF在周围神经损伤中的作用机制尚不清楚。
研究前列地尔对挤压伤神经损伤的病理和功能修复以及VEGF表达的影响。
用钳子夹伤大鼠坐骨神经建立挤压伤模型。400只Sprague Dawley（SD）大鼠随机分为：对照组；生理盐水组；生理盐水+VEGF抗体组；前列地尔组；前列地尔+VEGF抗体组。采用SPSS 11.5软件进行统计分析。通过逆转录-聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）、免疫组织化学、电子显微镜和电生理学研究坐骨神经挤压伤后背根神经节（DRG）中VEGF的表达。还评估了前列地尔对VEGF表达、神经病理修复和神经功能恢复的影响。
我们发现，与生理盐水组和生理盐水+VEGF抗体组相比，前列地尔组和前列地尔+VEGF抗体组中VEGF信使核糖核酸（mRNA）显著增加。与生理盐水组、生理盐水+VEGF抗体组和前列地尔+VEGF抗体组相比，前列地尔组中VEGF阳性神经元数量显著增加。此外，添加该药物还导致DRG中的病理变化较少，坐骨神经传导速度改善更好，大鼠右后肢趾间距增加更多。
血管活性药物前列地尔可能减轻周围神经的病理损伤，改善神经功能的恢复，这可能与周围神经挤压伤后VEGF表达上调有关。
