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Dihydrotestosterone Treatment Accelerates Autograft Reversal Sciatic Nerve Regeneration in Rats

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Abstract

Neuroactive steroids such as progesterone, testosterone, and their derivatives have been widely studied for their neuroprotective roles in the nervous system. Autologous nerve transplantation is considered as the gold standard repair technique when primary suture is impossible; nevertheless, this method is far from ideal. In this study, we aimed to explore the impact of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a 5α-reduced derivative of testosterone, on the recovery of peripheral nerve injury treated with autologous nerve transplantation. Sprague–Dawley rats were subjected to a 10-mm right side sciatic nerve reversed autologous nerve transplantation and randomly divided into groups that received DHT or DHT + flutamide (an androgen receptor blocker) daily for 8 weeks after operation. Our results demonstrated that DHT could speed up the rate of axonal regeneration and increase the expression of myelin protein zero (P0) in autograft reversal sciatic nerves. Thus, our study provided new insights into improving the prognosis of patients with long gap peripheral nerve defects.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81471270 and 81271967), the National Natural Science Youth Science Foundation of China (81401759) and the National Key Research and Development Project (2016YFC1101705).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hand Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China

    Xiaofan Yang, Xiang Xu, Zhenyu Liu, Yanhua Chen & Zhenbing Chen

  2. Department of Pharmacy, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Pingping Xue

  3. Pancreatic Disease Institute, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China

    Ruozheng Wei

  4. Department of Anesthesiology, The People’s Hospital of Hanchuan, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 432300, Hubei Province, China

    Xin Liu

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  1. Xiaofan Yang
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Correspondence to Zhenbing Chen.

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Yang, X., Xue, P., Wei, R. et al. Dihydrotestosterone Treatment Accelerates Autograft Reversal Sciatic Nerve Regeneration in Rats. Neurochem Res 43, 659–668 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-018-2466-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-018-2466-2

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