Effects of Wenjing Tongluo San for external use on sciatic nerve conduction in a rat model of oxaliplatin induced peripheral nerve toxicity

Objective:To explore the effects of Wenjing Tongluo San on sciatic nerve in a rat model of oxaliplatin induced chronic peripheral nerve toxicity.Methods:Thirty adult Wistar female rats were randomly divided into three groups:blank group,model group and traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)group.In model group and TCM group,oxaliplatin was injccted at the dosage of 3mg/kg i.p every other day,a total of 16 times.In TCM group,Wenjing Tongluo San was administrated locally,limbs and tails of the rats were soaked in TCM soup daily from d1 to d32.Mechanical and cold themal nociceptive behavior tests were observed,sciatic nerve fibers changes,sciatic nerve conduction velocity and pathological changes of sciatic nerve fibers were evaluated.Results:In model group,mechanical allodynia,mechanical hyperalgesia and cold themal allodynia were observed, sciatic nerve conduction velocity decreased.In addition,sciatic nerve fibers demyelination,even vacuoles degeneration were observed.In TCM group,these pathological changes were significantly relived,and sciatic nerve conduction velocity increased(P0.01),compared to model group.Conclusion:Wenjing Tongluo San can alleviate chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy significantly,increase sciatic nerve conduction velocity,reduce the rat sciatic nerve injury induced by oxaliplatin effectively.