(Da Silva et al., 2015)
Aim: To analyse if neural mobilisation can change the expression of myelin protein zero (MPZ) and Nerve growth factor (NGF) in the sciatic nerve of adult rats after chronic constrictive nerve injury Reminder: (MPZ is important for myelin formation and may play role in adult axon regeneration and NGF has been found to stimulate nerve regeneration)
Method: Male rats, and 4 groups: 1) Chronic constrictive nerve injury with neural mobilisation group (CCI-NM) 2) Chronic constrictive nerve injury without neural mobilisation (CCI) 3) Sham surgery group 4) Control group The chronic constrictive nerve injury was applied by dissecting to expose the sciatic nerve and 4 ligatures were used to constrict the nerve before the incision was closed. The NM technique in slumped position with ankle flex/ex was applied after 14 days. The technique was applied for 2 mins, with 25 sec pause, for 10 mins and performed on alternate days for a total of 10 sessions. The sciatic nerves were then dissected and analysed by transmission electron microscopy and western blot.
Results: Significant increase in MPZ and NGF found in CCI-NM group suggesting that neural mobilisation may improve axonal regeneration after chronic constrictive nerve injury.
Limitations: Rat study. The artificial application of nerve injury (by application of ligatures) may not represent the type of nerve injury see in human subjects. Dosage between rats / humans for same effect is unknown.
Practice: Tensioners with oscillations may help nerve regeneration by promoting NGF MPZ transcription.
Da Silva, J. T., Dos Santos, F. M., Giardini, A. C., De Oliveira Martins, D., De Oliveira, M. E., Ciena, A. P., … Chacur, M. (2015). Neural mobilization promotes nerve regeneration by nerve growth factor and myelin protein zero increased after sciatic nerve injury. Growth Factors, 33(1), 8–13. https://doi.org/10.3109/08977194.2014.953630