gms | German Medical Science

64th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

26 - 29 May 2013, Düsseldorf

Article

Send article

G-CSF and its possible regenerative effect on traumatic nerve lesion

Meeting Abstract

Search Medline for

  • Dörthe Keiner - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Homburg/Saar
  • Herbert von Pein - Institut für Neurochirurgische Pathophysiologie, Universitätsmedizin Mainz
  • Clemens Sommer - Institut für Neurochirurgische Pathophysiologie, Universitätsmedizin Mainz
  • Axel Heimann - Intitut für Neuropathologie, Universitätsmedizin Mainz
  • Oliver Kempski - Intitut für Neuropathologie, Universitätsmedizin Mainz
  • Joachim Oertel - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Homburg/Saar

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 64. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC). Düsseldorf, 26.-29.05.2013. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2013. DocMO.15.12

doi: 10.3205/13dgnc137, urn:nbn:de:0183-13dgnc1370

Published: May 21, 2013

© 2013 Keiner et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

Text

Objective: In the past years, granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) has been realized to have strong neuroprotective and neuroregenerative properties in various stroke models. The present study investigates the potential regenerative influence of G-CSF after a traumatic nerve injury in a rat model of sciatic nerve lesion.

Method: Traumatic nerve lesion has been applied to the right sciatic nerve in 72 rats. Twenty-four animals were treated with intraveous glucose 5%-solution, 24 animals were treated with G-CSF postoperatively and the remaining animals were treated with G-CSF pre- and postoperatively. Rats were examined for neurological deficits using the sciatic function index. Neurophysiologic examination was perfomed including motor nerve conduction velocity (NCV) and measurement of compound muscle action potential (CMAP). Nerves were measured pre- and postoperatively after day 1 and after week 1,2,4 and 6. Twelve animals of each group were sarificed for histological evaluation of the sciatic nerve after one week and after 6 weeks respectively. After 6 weeks, counting of alpha-motoneurons was performed.

Results: Regarding motor NCV, a strong trend showing a better improvement towards the rats that have been treated with G-CSF compared to the control group has been shown at week 4 (p = 0.1). At week 6, a significant improvement towards the rats that have been treated with G-CSF has been shown compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Regarding CMAP, a positive trend towards a faster improvement of the amplitude in animals treated with G-CSF was observed at week 2, week 4 and week 6 (p = 0.2). Counting of nerve fibers did show a sigificant higher number of small myelinated nerve fibers/mm2 as a sign of regeneration at week 6 in animals treated with G-CSF as well as a higher number of alpha-motoneurons (p < 0.05). However, no significant difference regarding neurological motor deficit has been observed.

Conclusions: A faster improvement regarding motor NCV and CMAP as well as a higher number of regenerated nerve fibers and alpha-motoneurons was observed after G-CSF application at 4 and 6 weeks. The results indicate that the application of G-CSF might have a beneficial effect on the time of recovery. Factors contributing to the improved recovery will have to be examined in futher studies.