Vasoactive agent buflomedil up-regulated expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in a rat model of sciatic nerve crush injury.

OBJECTIVES: To study the effect of Buflomedil on the morphological repair on crush injury of sciatic nerve and also the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rat sciatic nerves were crushed by pincers. All of the 400 Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into: Sham-operated; saline; saline + VEGF-antibody; Buflomedil; and Buflomedil + VEGF antibody groups. The expression of VEGF in dorsal root ganglia (DRGs), following crush injury to sciatic nerves, was studied by RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry. The effects of Buflomedil on expression of VEGF and repair of neural pathology were also evaluated. RESULTS: VEGF mRNA was significantly increased in Buflomedil and Buflomedil + VEGF-antibody groups, compared with other groups. The number of VEGF-positive neurons was significantly increased in the Buflomedil and the saline groups. Besides, Buflomedil also caused less pathological changes in DRGs. CONCLUSIONS: The vasoactive agent Buflomedil may decrease the pathological lesion and improve the functional rehabilitation of peripheral nerves, which may correlate to upregulation of the expression of VEGF, following crush injury to the peripheral nerves.

Protective effects of the calcium-channel blocker flunarizine on crush injury of sciatic nerves in a rat model.

BACKGROUND: Neural damage can be mitigated by calcium-channel blockers (CCBs). However, the mechanism of action of CCBs is not yet fully understood. Objective : To investigate the mechanism of action and efficacy of CCB, flunarizine in restoring neural function after crush injury to the nerves. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sciatic nerves of rats were crushed using pincers to establish the model for crush injury. Two hundred and eighty-eight Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into sham-operated, saline, and low-dose flunarizine and high-dose flunarizine (FI and FII) groups. The expression of the protein c-fos in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) after crush injury to the sciatic nerves was investigated by using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot. The effect of flunarizine on c-fos expression and its efficacy in restoring neural function was evaluated. RESULTS: The c-fos messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and protein expression in FI and FII groups was significantly lower than in the saline group and was the least in the FII group. Nerve-conduction velocity was increased in the order of: saline < FI< FII< sham-operated. There was no significant difference in the nerve-conduction velocity in the sham-operated and FII groups (P>.05). CONCLUSIONS: When administered after crush injury to peripheral nerves, flunarizine may protect neurons with lesions from further damage and improve neural function by downregulating c-fos expression.