Surgical oncology and reconstructionInfluence of Tacrolimus (FK506) on Nerve Regeneration Using Allografts: A Rat Sciatic Nerve Model
Section snippets
Experimental Design
The study design was based on the authors' previous work.7 In brief, 30 male white Wistar rats weighing approximately 300 g were randomly divided into 3 experimental groups (n = 10): a normal control (NC) group, an allograft (ALLO) group, and an FK506-treated (ALLO/FK506) group. Two weeks before and during the entire experiments, the animals were housed in individual plastic cages with an ambient temperature of 23 ± 3°C, stable air humidity, and a natural day-and-night cycle. The rats had free
BBB Recovery
Figure 1 shows BBB scores compared with baseline. All animals in the experimental groups, except sham-operated animals, showed a functional deficit 1 week after the operation. The animals treated with FK506 showed significant improvement in locomotion of the injured nerve compared with the NC animals within the study time line (P < .05).
SFI Outcome
Figure 2 shows the SFI of animals in the different groups. Before injury of the nerve, SFI values in the ALLO and ALLO/FK506 animals were near 0. After the
Discussion
The use of nerve allografts has clear demand because it bears many of the benefits of conduits, including off-the-shelf convenience, avoidance of a donor defect, and unlimited supply; it also might offer greater axon support and potentially even some neurotrophic factors.13 Unfortunately, substantial immunogenicity in human nerve tissue has necessitated the concomitant administration of immunosuppressive agents.14
The results of the present study showed that treatment with FK506 hastened
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Mr Matin, Mr Valinezhad, and Mr Ansarinia for their technical expertise.
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