Effect of gabapentin on primary surgical treatment of experimental sciatic nerve injury in rats

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study is to minimize the morbidity related to nerve injury by determining the protective effects of gabapentin in experimental sciatic nerve injury and end-to-end anastomosis model in rats and to guide clinical studies on this subject.
METHODS: In our study, 40 adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly divided into the following five groups: I: Only surgical intervention was applied; II: The sciatic nerve was cut properly and was repaired by end-to-end anastomosis. No additional procedure was performed; III: A single dose of gabapentin at 30 mg/kg was given after anastomosis; IV: 30 mg/kg gabapentin was given for 3 days after anastomosis; and V: 30 mg/kg gabapentin was given for 7 days after anastomosis. The experiment was terminated with high-dose thiopental (50 mg/kg) 60 days after the surgical intervention. The right sciatic nerve was taken from all animals. The obtained sections were examined immunohistopathologically.
RESULTS: Immunohistochemical properties and Schwann cell proliferation were found to be statistically significantly lower in the control group than in the other groups. Schwann cell proliferation was higher in Group 3 than in Group 5. Immunohistochemical changes were significantly lower in Group 4 than in Group 3. Axonal degeneration was also higher in Group 4 than in Group 3.
CONCLUSION: Gabapentin promotes neurological recovery histopathologically in peripheral nerve injury due to its neuroprotective properties. Our study results show that gabapentin can be used as an adjunctive therapy to primary surgical treatment after peripheral nerve injury.

Sýçanlarda deneysel olarak oluþturulan siyatik sinir hasarýnda gabapentinin primer cerrahi tedaviye etkisi

AMAÇ: Çalýþmamýzýn amacý; sýçanlarda deneysel olarak oluþturulan siyatik sinir yaralanmasý ve uç-uca anastomoz yapýlmasý modelinde gabapentinin koruyucu etkilerini belirleyerek sinir yaralanmasýna baðlý morbiditeyi en aza indirmek ve bu konudaki klinik çalýþmalara yön vermektir.
GEREÇ VE YÖNTEM: Çalýþmamýzda 40 adet yetiþkin, erkek, Sprague-Dawley cinsi sýçanlar; rastgele I: Sadece cerrahiye maruz kalan, II: siyatik sinirleri düzgün bir þekilde kesilip tekrar uç-uca anastomoz yapýlan ve ek herhangi bir iþlem yapýlmayan, III: anastomoz yapýlýp tek doz 30 mg/kg gabapentin verilen, IV: anastomoz yapýlýp üç gün 30 mg/kg gabapentin verilen, V: anastomoz yapýlýp yedi gün 30 mg/kg gabapentin verilen olmak üzere beþ gruba ayrýldý. Cerrahi iþlemden 60 gün sonra yüksek doz tiyopental (50 mg/kg) ile deney sonlandýrýldý. Tüm hayvanlarýn sað siyatik sinirleri alýndý ve elde edilen kesitler immünohistopatolojik olarak incelendi.
BULGULAR: Ýmmünohistokimyasal özellikler ve Schwann hücre proliferasyonu kontrol grubunda, diðer gruplara kýyasla istatistiksel olarak anlamlý daha az oranda saptandý. Ýkili gruplar arasýnda ise Grup 3’de 5’e oranla daha fazla hücre proliferasyonu görüldü. Grup 4’deki immünohistokimyasal deðiþiklikler Grup 3’e göre anlamlý oranda az saptandý. Ayrýca axonal dejenerasyon da Grup 4’de Grup 3’e oranla daha fazla bulundu.
TARTIÞMA: Gabapentin, histopatolojik olarak periferik sinir yaralanmasýnda nöroprotektif özelliði ile nörolojik düzelmeyi teþvik eder. Çalýþmamýzýn sonuçlarýnda, gabapentinin, periferik sinir hasarý sonrasýnda primer cerrahi tedaviye ek tamamlayýcý bir tedavi olarak kullanýlabilirliðini göstermektedir.