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Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide and Nerve Regeneration

From the Hand Surgery Section, Orthopaedic Surgery Department, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Baptist Medical Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.A

Correspondence: Ghazi M. Rayan, M.D., F.A.C.S., 3433 N.W. 56th Street #850, Oklahoma City, OK 73112, U.S.A.

The role of vasoactive intestinal peptide (V.I.P.) in nerve regeneration was investigated by assessing the changes in immunoreactive V.I.P. levels in rat sciatic nerves following injury and repair. 60 rats were divided into three surgical groups and one control group: In group I (primary repair), sciatic nerves were divided and immediately repaired; in group II (secondary repair), sciatic nerves were divided and repaired two weeks later; in group III (no repair), sciatic nerves were divided and not repaired; and in group IV (controls), sciatic nerves were exposed but not divided. Animals were sacrificed at three days and at weekly intervals. Their sciatic nerves were extracted and assayed for V.I.P. concentrations by a specific radioimmunoassay. The mean V.I.P. concentration varied between 22 and 46 pg./mg. protein in the control nerves and between 60 and 529 pg./mg. protein in all other groups. In the three surgical groups the levels were significantly higher in proximal than in distal stumps. Following nerve injury, there was an increase in V.I.P. concentration in the injured and repaired areas. This increase was greater in injured non-repaired areas and was highest in the first 48 hours, but continued during regeneration. The accumulation of V.I.P. in divided nerves occurred in response to nerve injury.

Journal of Hand Surgery (British and European Volume), Vol. 16, No. 5, 515-518 (1991)
DOI: 10.1016/0266-7681(91)90106-X


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