HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

From Cell Biology to Tissue Engineering

 

Gherlin and adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells improve nerve regeneration in a rat model of epsilon-caprolactone conduit reconstruction

Pedro Hernández-Cortés1, Miguel Angel Toledo-Romero2, Mario Delgado3, Elena Gonzalez-Rey3, Rafael Gómez Sánchez1, Nicolás Prados-Olleta4, José Aneiros-Fernández5, Vicente Crespo-Lora5, Mariano Aguilar5, Pablo Galindo-Moreno6 and Francisco O'Valle5

1Hand Surgery Unit, Orthopedic Surgery Department of San Cecilio University Hospital of Granada and Department of Surgery, University of Granada, Granada, 2Hand Surgery Unit, Orthopedic Surgery Department of Virgen del Rocio University Hospital of Seville, Seville, 3Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine López-Neyra, CSIC, Granada, Granada, 4Orthopedic Surgery Department of Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital of Granada, and Department of Surgery, University of Granada, Granada, 5Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, and Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER, CIBM), Granada and 6Oral Surgery and Implant Dentistry Department, School of Dentistry, University of Granada, Granada,, Spain

Offprint requests to: Prof. Francisco O'Valle, Departamento de Anatomía Patológica, Facultad de Medicina, Avda. de Madrid s/n, 18012 Granada. Spain. e-mail: fovalle@ugr.es


Summary. Objective. Attempts have been made to improve nerve conduits in peripheral nerve reconstruction. We investigated the potential therapeutic effect of adipose-derived mesenchymal cells (ASCs) and ghrelin (GHR), a neuropeptide with neuroprotective, trophic, and developmental regulatory actions, on peripheral nerve regeneration in a model of severe nerve injury repaired with nerve conduits. Material and methods. The right sciatic nerves of 24 male Wistar rats were 10-mm transected unilaterally and repaired with Dl-lactic-ε-caprolactone conduits. Rats were then treated locally with saline, ASCs, or GHR. At 12 weeks post-surgery, we assessed limb function by measuring ankle stance angle and percentage muscle mass reduction and evaluated the histopathology, immunohistochemistry, ultrastructure, and morphometry of myelinated fibers. Main Results. Rats receiving GHR or ASCs showed no significant increased functional recovery in ankle stance angle (p=0.372) but a higher nerve area (p=0.015), myelin area (p=0.046) and number of myelinated fibers (p=0.012) in the middle and distal segments of operated sciatic nerves in comparison to saline-treated control animals. Conclusion. These results suggest that utilization of ghrelin or ASCs may improve nerve regeneration using Dl-lactic-ε-caprolactone conduits. Histol Histopathol 32, 627-637 (2017)

Key words: Epsilon-caprolactone, Ghrelin, Peripheral nerve injury, Nerve regeneration, Rat, Sciatic nerve

DOI: 10.14670/HH-11-828