Effects of chemical extracted acellular nerve on sciatic nerve defects of rats

Objective To investigate the effect of chemical extracted acellular nerve on sciatic nerve defects of SD rats.Methods Twenty-three adult male SD rats were selected.The sciatic nerves were harvested from five of them to prepare acellular nerves.The remaining 18 rats were divided into two groups:autologous nerve graft (group A),and chemical extracted acellular nerve graft (group B).All of the experimental animals were used to establish the left sciatic nerve 1-cm long defect models,and the right sciatic nerves were exposed as the controls.At 4th,8th,and 12th week after operation,the sciatic functional index (SFI) was calculated.At 12th week after operation,hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining,electrophysiology,immanohistochemistry and tissue immunofluorescence were done.Results All the incisions healed well after surgery.The anastomotic stomata in transplanting nerves were smooth and not swollen.SFI at different time points in group A (-83.7,-63.25,-48.6) was higher than that in group B (-86.58,-70.69,-57.43),but the difference was not statistically significant (P ＞ 0.05).At 12th week after operation,the wet weight recovery rate of triceps surae muscles [group A:(66.16 ± 19.58)％,group B:(45.20 ± 17.17)％] and amplitude [(group A:(8.10 ±2.74) mV,group B:(5.34 ±2.67) mV] were higher in group A than in group B,with the difference being significant (P ＜ 0.05).The compound muscle action potential [group A:(1.80 ± 0.35) ms,group B:(1.95 ± 0.44) ms] and conduction velocities [group A:(27.76 ± 9.84) m/s,group B:(22.12 ± 5.98) m/s] had no significant difference between two groups (P ＞ 0.05).HE staining and immunohistochemistry revealed that regenerated nerve fibers showed no significant difference between two groups.Conclusion Chemical extracted acellular nerve and autologous nerve exhibited the similar effects on sciatic nerve defects of SD rats. Key words: Acellular; Allogeneic nerve; Sciatic nerve defects; Nerve regeneration