Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Repair of peripheral nerve defects is the current challenge in traumatic surgery and reconstructive surgery. The present hotspot in this field is how to promote neural regeneration. Several common methods have their own defects or limitations, such as nerve transplantation, nerve elongation, nerve bridging and tissue engineering.
OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of vacuum aspiration on promoting the repair and regeneration of rat sciatic nerve at different pressures.
METHODS: Thirty healthy adult SD rats were divided into three groups following different pressures (6.65, 13.30 and 19.95 kPa) on the proximal end of the right sciatic nerve after transection in rats sucked by vacuum aspiration. After vacuum aspiration for 60 minutes, there was a rest of 30 minutes.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: After treatment for 1 month, the proximal nerve at the experimental side was found different degrees of growth. Moreover, growth length in 13.30 kPa group was longer than that in 6.65 and 19.95 kPa groups. Histological observation showed that in the proximal end of regenerated nerves, neuraxis was straight, little curved, and thickness was uniform, besides, the myelin sheath was well consecutive, and the growth of regenerated nerves was good. In the middle part, nerve fibers were compact and arranged in cluster. In the distal end, myelin sheath components were reduced, and hyperplasia of schwann cells could be observed obviously. These results suggest that vacuum aspiration can promote the regeneration of rat sciatic nerve. In addition, vacuum aspiration at 13.30 kPa exhibits more effective for nerve regeneration.