Investigation of therapeutic efficacy of olive leaf extract in sciatic nerve injury

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of olive leaf extract on sciatic nerve damage of rats. The investigation conducted on 32 adult female rats. Groups were divided into four groups as CONTROL, SHAM, ZY200 and ZY400. For clinical evaluations skin prick test, walking track test for sciatic functional index and EMG measurements performed on the subjects under anesthesia. The subjects applied general anesthesia on the first day with followed exploration of sciatic nerve on right legs of subjects except control group. The explorated sciatic nerves clembed with bulldog clamb for 60 seconds for make sciatic nerve injury. The sham group was not given any medication. 200 mg/kg/day to the ZY200 group; The ZY400 group was given olive leaf extract via gavage at a dose of 400 mg/kg/day for 8 weeks. At the end of the study, the rats were sacrificed, and histopathological, biochemical, and hematological evaluations were conducted. Histopathological evaluations were evaluated in terms of axonal degeneration, edema and vacuolization; The results of the ZY200 and ZY400 groups were seen to be better than the CONTROL and SHAM groups, and a statistically significant difference was observed (p <0.05). In the biochemical evaluations, NGF, TAS, TOS, and TGF-β1 were assessed. The results of the ZY200 and ZY400 groups were found to be superior to the SHAM and CONTROL groups. A significant difference (p<0.05) was observed in NGF and TOS values, and there was a nearly significant difference in TAS values (p = 0.052). However, no significant difference was observed in TGF-β1 values (p = 0.084). In clinical evaluations, significant differences were observed in skin prick test, nerve function index and EMG measurements (p <0.05). In hematogical evalutions, significant differences were observed in MID (%), MID, GRAN, RBC, MCV values (p<0,05). In conclusion; Clinical, histopathological, biochemical and hematological examinations have shown that olive leaf extract has a positive effect on the healing of sciatic nerve damage, and we believe that more detailed research is needed.