Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2013, Vol. 8 ›› Issue (11): 983-990.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.11.003

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Extracts from rabbit skin inflamed by the vaccinia virus attenuate bupivacaine-induced spinal neurotoxicity in pregnant rats

Rui Cui1, 2, Shiyuan Xu1, Liang Wang2, Hongyi Lei1, Qingxiang Cai1, Hongfei Zhang1, Dongmei Wang1   

  1. 1 Department of Anesthesiology, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510280, Guangdong Province, China
    2 Department of Anesthesiology, Shenzhen Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen 518028, Guangdong Province, China
  • Received:2012-12-02 Revised:2013-02-09 Online:2013-04-15 Published:2013-04-15
  • Contact: Shiyuan Xu, Master, Professor, Doctoral supervisor, Department of Anesthesiology, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510280, Guangdong Province, China, xushiyuan355@ yahoo.com.cn.
  • About author:Rui Cui☆, M.D., Associate chief physician.

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Abstract:

Extracts from rabbit skin inflamed by the vaccinia virus can relieve pain and promote repair of nerve injury. The present study intraperitoneally injected extracts from rabbit skin inflamed by the vaccinia virus for 3 and 4 days prior to and following intrathecal injection of bupivacaine into pregnant rats. The pain threshold test after bupivacaine injection showed that the maximum possible effect of tail-flick latency peaked 1 day after intrathecal injection of bupivacaine in the extract-pretreatment group, and gradually decreased, while the maximum possible effect in the bupivacaine group continued to increase after intrathecal injection of bupivacaine. Histological observation showed that after 4 days of intrathecal injection of bupivacaine, the number of shrunken, vacuolated, apoptotic and caspase-9-positive cells in the dorsal root ganglion in the extract-pretreatment group was significantly reduced compared with the bupivacaine group. These findings indicate that extracts from rabbit skin inflamed by the vaccinia virus can attenuate neurotoxicity induced by intrathecal injection of bupivacaine in pregnant rats, possibly by inhibiting caspase-9 protein expression and suppressing nerve cell apoptosis.

Key words: neural regeneration, peripheral nerve injury, vaccinia virus, extract, bupivacaine, neurotoxicity, caspase-9, apoptosis, local anesthetic, grants-supported paper, neuroregeneration