Evaluation of the effects of mematin hydroclorur in acute sciatic nerve compression model in the rats

X. ABSTRACTCompression is the third most common cause of peripheral nerve injury. Patients those are not suitable for surgical approach sometimes may be problematic for clinics of peripheral nerve surgery. Regain of these patients to active work-up causes loss of time and lots of money. Until today, neurotrophic factors, steroids, hormones, and application of magnetic field have been used in various studies to increase nerve regeneration. Memantine has been prescribed especially for Alzheimer disease both in the world and our country. Recently, memantine has been begun to be studied in peripheral nerve system studies. It has been used especially in neuropathic pain and phantom type pain studies. However, it has not been studied in acute nerve injury studies for effects of acute period. In this study we evaluated the acute effects of memantine in acute nerve compression injury. This study performed in four rat groups. First group was the sham-operated group and in them only sciatic nerve dissection was performed. In the second group intraneural hematoma was been performed with otology blood taken from its tail after sciatic nerve dissection. In the third and fourth group memantine has been injected for 7 days in low and high doses parenterally after performing acute nerve compression. After 7 days, rats were been tracked at oblique plane and their sciatic nerve functional index have been calculated. After that, their sciatic nerves have been excised for biochemical evaluation. In the biochemical evaluation, cyclooxgenase-2 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels of tissues have been calculated. In the histological examination, tissues were examined with toluidin blue and S100 under electron microscope. In conclusion, our clinic and biochemical findings support the positive effect of memantine hydroclorure on acute nerve injury, however in the light of the histological findings it is clear that high dose memantine has a harmful effect on regeneration in the acute perior after acute nerve compression. It is not possible to make a general comment with our findings, further studies will be needed.XI. KEY WORDSAcute nerve injury, intraneural hematoma, memantine, sciatic nerve functional index, cyclooxygenase-2, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, toluidin blue, S100.