TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR PROMOTES MOTOR FUNCTIONAL RECOVERY IN CRUSHED PERIPHERAL-NERVE

The potential benefits of tumor necrosis factor pretreatment in promot ing motor functional recovery of peripheral nerve following low load c rush injury were examined. Using a specially designed crush device, ra t sciatic nerve was subjected to a low load crush injury of 2-h durati on. Recombinant murine tumor necrosis factor and saline were intraperi toneally injected into the experimental and control animals, respectiv ely, prior to nerve crushing. Subsequent motor function was evaluated at intervals by measurement of the sciatic functional index. There was significantly (P < 0.05 to < 0.01) more rapid recovery in the tumor n ecrosis factor pretreated group as compared to the controls between da y 14 and day 28. The sciatic functional index in the tumor necrosis fa ctor group improved to -69.3+/-5.3 at day 14 and to nearly normal at d ay 21. In contrast, the sciatic functional index in the control group was -95.5+/-3.1% at day 14 and did not approach normal until day 42. H istological results paralleled the functional findings. The results su ggest that tumor necrosis factor pretreatment has the potential to att enuate neurostructural damage and promote motor functional recovery in rat peripheral nerve. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.