Koh Galina P, Fouad Carol, Lanzinger William, Willits Rebecca Kuntz
Biomedical Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, USA.
Orthopedic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Akron General, Akron, Ohio, USA.
Neurotrauma Rep. 2020 Nov 12;1(1):181-191. doi: 10.1089/neur.2020.0049. eCollection 2020.
Peripheral nerve injuries, associated with significant morbidity, can benefit from electrical stimulation (ES), as demonstrated in animal studies through improved axonal growth. This study combined the clinical gold standard of isograft repair in a rat model of sciatic nerve injury to evaluate the effects of intraoperative ES on functional tests and histology. Forty rats underwent a surgically induced gap injury to the right sciatic nerve and subsequent repair with an isograft. Half of these rats were randomly selected to receive 10 min of intraoperative ES. Functional testing, including response time to a heat stimulus and motor functional tests, were conducted. Histology of the sciatic nerves and gastrocnemius muscles were analyzed after 6 and 12 weeks of recovery. Rats that underwent ES treatment showed incremental improvements in motor function between weeks 2 and 12, with a significantly higher push-off response than the no-ES controls after 6 weeks. Although no differences were detected between groups in the sensory testing, significant improvements over time were noted in the ES group. Histology parameters, sciatic nerve measures, and gastrocnemius muscle weights demonstrated nerve recovery over time for both the ES and no-ES control groups. Although ES promoted improvements in motor function comparable to that in previous studies, the benefits of intraoperative ES were not detectable in other metrics of this rat model of peripheral nerve injury. Future work is needed to optimize sensory testing in the rodent injury model and compare electrical activity of collagen scaffolds to native tissue to detect differences.
周围神经损伤会导致严重的发病率，而电刺激（ES）可能对其有益，动物研究表明电刺激可促进轴突生长。本研究在大鼠坐骨神经损伤模型中结合了同种异体移植修复这一临床金标准，以评估术中电刺激对功能测试和组织学的影响。40只大鼠接受了右侧坐骨神经的手术性间隙损伤，随后用同种异体移植进行修复。其中一半大鼠被随机选择接受10分钟的术中电刺激。进行了功能测试，包括对热刺激的反应时间和运动功能测试。在恢复6周和12周后，对坐骨神经和腓肠肌进行了组织学分析。接受电刺激治疗的大鼠在第2周和第12周之间运动功能逐渐改善，6周后其蹬离反应明显高于未接受电刺激的对照组。虽然在感觉测试中未检测到组间差异，但电刺激组随时间有显著改善。组织学参数、坐骨神经测量和腓肠肌重量显示，电刺激组和未接受电刺激的对照组的神经均随时间恢复。虽然电刺激促进了运动功能的改善，与先前研究相当，但在该大鼠周围神经损伤模型的其他指标中未检测到术中电刺激的益处。未来需要开展工作，以优化啮齿动物损伤模型中的感觉测试，并比较胶原支架与天然组织的电活动以检测差异。
