Yousof Shimaa Mohammad, ElSayed Doaa Attia, El-Baz Amani A, Sallam Hanaa S, Abbas Faten
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt.
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.
Stem Cells Int. 2021 Feb 15;2021:8847110. doi: 10.1155/2021/8847110. eCollection 2021.
Neuropathic pain following nerve injury does not respond well to most available pharmacological remedies. We aimed to compare the outcome of the addition of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) to pregabalin for neuropathic pain treatment.
Adult female albino rats ( = 100) were randomized to receive traumatic sciatic nerve injury or sham. Animals were then randomized to ADMSC treatment with or without pregabalin. We conducted a battery of neurobehavioral and electrophysiological to assess neuropathic pain. Following sacrifice, we evaluated the histological changes and gene expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the sciatic nerve. Serum and sciatic nerve tissue pro- and inflammatory cytokine levels were also assessed.
(1) All treatments significantly improved thermal withdrawal latency, sciatic nerve conduction velocity, and proinflammatory cytokine levels in injured animals, with no significant effect of the combined treatments compared to pregabalin monotherapy ( < 0.05 each). (2) Combined treatment significantly improved medial gastrocnemius electromyographic amplitude and sciatic function index compared to pregabalin monotherapy ( < 0.05 each). (3) Combined treatment significantly increased the BDNF expression, decreased anti-inflammatory cytokine ( < 0.05 each), and restored the structural nerve damage, compared to pregabalin monotherapy.
Combined treatment is associated with greater improvement of the sciatic nerve structure and function. Further studies are warranted to study the mechanism of action of the combined treatment to improve neuropathic pain.
神经损伤后的神经性疼痛对大多数现有的药物治疗反应不佳。我们旨在比较在普瑞巴林治疗神经性疼痛中添加脂肪源性间充质干细胞（ADMSC）的效果。
将100只成年雌性白化大鼠随机分为坐骨神经损伤组或假手术组。然后将动物随机分为接受ADMSC治疗加或不加普瑞巴林的组。我们进行了一系列神经行为学和电生理学评估来评估神经性疼痛。处死动物后，我们评估了坐骨神经中脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）的组织学变化和基因表达。还评估了血清和坐骨神经组织中促炎和抗炎细胞因子水平。
（1）所有治疗均显著改善了损伤动物的热退缩潜伏期、坐骨神经传导速度和促炎细胞因子水平，与普瑞巴林单药治疗相比，联合治疗无显著差异（每项P<0.05）。（2）与普瑞巴林单药治疗相比，联合治疗显著改善了腓肠肌内侧肌电图幅度和坐骨神经功能指数（每项P<0.05）。（3）与普瑞巴林单药治疗相比，联合治疗显著增加了BDNF表达，降低了抗炎细胞因子水平（每项P<0.05），并修复了神经结构损伤。
联合治疗与坐骨神经结构和功能的更大改善相关。有必要进一步研究联合治疗改善神经性疼痛的作用机制。
