ABSTRACT
Aim To investigate the feasibility of using arnnion allograftcombined with nerve growth factor to bridge peripheral nerve deficit.Methods 48 SD rats as models of sciatic nerve deficit were randomlyassigned into one of the following groups: autograft (Group A), allograftwith Cyclosporine A (CSA) 5 mg/(kg @ d) for 5 weeks (Group B), deficitbridged by amnion allograft combined with nerve growth factor (Group C) ,and allograft with no immune treatment (Group D) . 6 Wistar rats weresacrificed as the donors of the sciatic nerve allograft. Observation wascarried under light microscope and electron microscope examination at 12weeks post-operatively for morphological studying; The latency, ampli-tude, conduct velocity and negative area under the curve were recordedas electrophysiologic index; Maximum contractility of gastrocnemiusmuscle and thickness of myelin of the regenenative nerve were measured;Axons counting were also performed to evaluate the quality of regenera-tion. Results At 12 weeks, group A, B and C recovered better (Indexessuch as latency, amplitude, conduct velocity , negative area under thecurve, maximum contractility of gastrocnemius muscle, thickness of myelinand axons counting were compared by ANOVA test, F= 12.87, P ＜0.05; F=19.54, P ＜0.05; F=35.21, P ＜0.01; F=56.33, P ＜0.01. F=75.26, P ＜0.05; F=14.83, P ＜0.05; F=96.11, P ＜0.01), and no significant difference was found among these groups ( P ＞0.05). Conclusion For long distance peripheral nerve deficit, usingamnion allograft combined with nerve growth factor to bridge the deficit canfacilitate the regeneration of nerve and the recovery of function.