Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2014, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (10): 1020-1024.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.133163

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L-carnitine alleviates sciatic nerve crush injury in rats: functional and electron microscopy assessments

Ümmü Zeynep Avsar 1, Umit Avsar 2, Ali Aydin 3, Muhammed Yayla 4, Berna Ozturkkaragoz 5, Harun Un 6, Murat Saritemur 7, Tolga Mercantepe 8   

  1. 1 Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, Yakutiye, Erzurum, Turkey
    2 Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, Yakutiye, Erzurum, Turkey
    3 Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, Yakutiye, Erzurum, Turkey
    4 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, Yakutiye, Erzurum, Turkey
    5 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Agr? University, Agr?, Turkey
    6 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Agr? University, Agr?, Turkey
    7 Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, Yakutiye, Erzurum, Turkey
    8 Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, Yakutiye, Erzurum, Turkey
  • Received:2014-03-20 Online:2014-05-26 Published:2014-05-26
  • Contact: ümmü Zeynep Avsar, Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, Erzurum 25240, Turkey, zeynep.avsar@atauni.edu.tr.
  • Supported by:

    This study was supported by a grant from Ataturk University Scientific Experimental Project Office to Project Number 2012/07.

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Abstract:

Several studies have demonstrated that L-carnitine exhibits neuroprotective effects on injured sciatic nerve of rats with diabetes mellitus. It is hypothesized that L-carnitine exhibits neuroprotective effects on injured sciatic nerve of rats. Rat sciatic nerve was crush injured by a forceps and exhibited degenerative changes. After intragastric administration of 50 and 100 mg/kg L-carnitine for 30 days, axon area, myelin sheath area, axon diameter, myelin sheath diameter, and numerical density of the myelinated axons of injured sciatic nerve were similar to normal, and the function of injured sciatic nerve also improved significantly. These findings suggest that L-carnitine exhibits neuroprotective effects on sciatic nerve crush injury in rats.

Key words: nerve regeneration, peripheral nerve injury, sciatic nerve, L-carnitine, neuroprotection, crush injury, electron microscopy, axon, myelin sheath, neural regeneration 

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