Abstract

Background and purpose: The aim of this study was to test the effects of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC), nerve growth factor (NGF) and Matrigel on nerve regeneration in crushed sciatic nerve in rat model by behavioral and electrophysiological examinations and histology. Materials and methods: In this research 42 male adult rats were divided into six groups including Normal: healthy rats without any injuries, Control: rats with crushed sciatic nerve, Matryigel: rats with wounding cured cells by matrigel, NGF: rats with injured and crushed sciatic nerve treated by NGF, The autologe and Non-autolog remedial cells groups treated by non-autolog and autologe BMSC injection, respectively. The improvement rate was evaluated by SFI, electrophysiology and histology. Results: In the treatment groups the SFI average increased after four weeks. The mean of SFI increased significantly after two weeks in both remedial cells groups (P< 0.04). The mean of nerve conductive velocity (NCV) was not significantly different in healthy group compared with treatment groups. The average of amplitude muscle action potential (AMP) in control group demonstrated an extreme decrease compared with healthy group (P=0.067). However, it increased in remedial groups. The count of nerve fiber in experimental groups showed a significant increase (p=0.001). The increase of myelin sheath width was higher in remedial (cells) group especially in non-autolog group but it was observed less in Matrigel group. Conclusion: This study showed the positive effect of neurotropine (NGF) and Matrigel on nerve regeneration of crushed sciatic nerve in rat model. NGF, BMSC and Matrigel injection in damaged nerve led to speedy improvement of crushed nerve.