Background and Objective: In peripheral nerve injuries, electrical stimulations (ES) have been used to accelerate the nerve regeneration. In this study effects of brief voltage-controlled ES on the functional recovery in a transection model of the rat sciatic nerve has been investigated. Materials and Methods: Fifteen adult male Wistar rats (250-350g) were anesthetized, their right sciatic nerve were transected and randomly divided in one control and two experimental groups (n=5). The proximal and distal ends of the transected nerve were sutured to a 10 mm-long silicone tube and then stimulated as follows; 10 and 30 min ES (20Hz, 3V, 100μs) in experimental groups and no ES in the control group. A hot plate test was done every two week and at the end of the experimental period (12 weeks) the relative nerve conduction velocity (NCV) was measured. Results: Hot plate results indicate that at weeks 8 and 10, the withdraw time in experimental groups are shorter than the control group. However, the differences are not significant. Based on the electrophysiology test, the 10 min-ES group had a significantly higher NCV compared to the control group and the 30 min-ES group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Results demostrated that brief ES can increase the speed of nerve regeneration and also a shorter ES protocol can be more effective while can reduce the chance of infection and the cost of keeping patients under anesthesia.

Keywords