Allograft pretreatment for the repair of sciatic nerve defects：green tea polyphenolsversus radiation

摘要

Pretreatment of nerve allografts by exposure to irradiation or green tea polyphenols can elimi-nate neuroimmunogenicity, inhibit early immunological rejection, encourage nerve regeneration and functional recovery, improve tissue preservation, and minimize postoperative infection. In the present study, we investigate which intervention achieves better results. We produced a 1.0 cm sciatic nerve defect in rats, and divided the rats into four treatment groups: autograft, fresh nerve allograft, green tea polyphenol-pretreated (1 mg/mL, 4°C) nerve allograft, and irradiation-pre-treated nerve allograft (26.39 Gy/min for 12 hours; total 19 kGy). The animals were observed, and sciatic nerve electrophysiology, histology, and transmission electron microscopy were carried out at 6 and 12 weeks after grafting. The circumference and structure of the transplanted nerve in rats that received autografts or green tea polyphenol-pretreated nerve allografts were similar to those of the host sciatic nerve. Compared with the groups that received fresh or irradiation-pre-treated nerve allografts, motor nerve conduction velocity in the autograft and fresh nerve allograft groups was greater, more neurites grew into the allografts, Schwann cell proliferation was evident, and a large number of new blood vessels was observed; in addition, massive myelinated nerve ifbers formed, and abundant microiflaments and microtubules were present in the axoplasm. Our ifndings indicate that nerve allografts pretreated by green tea polyphenols are equivalent to trans-planting autologous nerves in the repair of sciatic nerve defects, and promote nerve regeneration. Pretreatment using green tea polyphenols is better than pretreatment with irradiation.