| Keywords |
Sciatic nerve injury; Schwann cell; Remyelination; Muscle atrophy; Exercise |
| Abstract |
The purpose of this study was to determine whether regular exercise can activate signaling cascades related with axon and muscle regeneration after sciatic nerve injury (SNI). The experimental rats divided into the normal control (Norm, n=6), sedentary groups (SNI+SED) for 5 (n=6) and 15 (n=6) days after SNI, exercise groups (SNI+EX) for 5 (n=6) and 15 (n=6) days after SNI. The rats underwent treadmill exercises at an intensity of 8 m/min for 30 minutes over experimental period. The sciatic nerve and soleus muscle samples were collected on 0, 5, and 15 days post crush (dpc) and we applied western blot techniques to analyze expression level of regeneration-related proteins.
Data were statistically analyzed using SPSS Ver 22.0, employing a one-way analysis of variance. Post hoc tests were conducted using Tukey-HSD, with a statistical significance level set at p<0.05. Regular exercise further increased MBP and S100B levels at the 5 dpc than sedentary group as well as exercise significantly up-regulated phosphorylation of STAT3 at 15 dpc compared to sedentary group at 15 dpc. p-p38MAPK and p-FoxO3a were dramatically decreased in the exercise group compared to sedentary group at the 5dpc. However, Myostatin and p-Smad was no significant difference between among groups. Our findings indicate that treadmill walking exercise may be an important regulator for improving the nerve repair and muscle atrophy after SNI. |