Recombinant human fibroblast growth factor-2 promotes nerve regeneration and functional recovery after mental nerve crush injury

摘要

Several studies have shown that fibroblast growth factor-2(FGF2) can directly affect axon regeneration after peripheral nerve damage. In this study, we performed sensory tests and histological analyses to study the effect of recombinant human FGF-2(rh FGF2) treatment on damaged mental nerves. The mental nerves of 6-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were crush-injured for 1 minute and then treated with 10 or 50 μg/m L rh FGF2 or PBS in crush injury area with a mini Osmotic pump. Sensory test using von Frey filaments at 1 week revealed the presence of sensory degeneration based on decreased gap score and increased difference score. However, at 2 weeks, the gap score and difference score were significantly rebounded in the mental nerve crush group treated with 10 μg/m L rh FGF2. Interestingly, treatment with 10 μg/m L rh FGF had a more obviously positive effect on the gap score than treatment with 50 μg/m L rh FGF2. In addition, retrograde neuronal tracing with Dil revealed a significant increase in nerve regeneration in the trigeminal ganglion at 2 and 4 weeks in the rh FGF2 groups(10 μg/m L and 50 μg/m L) than in the PBS group. The 10 μg/m L rh FGF2 group also showed an obviously robust regeneration in axon density in the mental nerve at 4 weeks. Our results demonstrate that 10 μg/m L rh FGF induces mental nerve regeneration and sensory recovery after mental nerve crush injury.