Objective: To test the effect of endogenous BDNF on injured nervous system.
Methods: The left sciatic nerves of the rats were cut off, and then divided into two groups, each with 8 rats. The rats in the experimental group were intraperitoneally injected with anti-BDNF, while the control group was given normal sheep serum (NSS). The dorsal coclums of the rats were cut on the 8th day. The L5 DRG were cut into length wise sections to dye with fluorescent antibody. Positive cells of GAP-43 in the L5 DRG were counted. The second experiment had both sides of sciatic nerves of the rats cut off, followed by the same procedure as the first experiment. The HRP tracing and ABC immunohistochemical staining were performed to analyse the effect of endogenous BDNF on the recovery of injured spinal cords.
Results: For the rats with left sciatic nerves cut off, the experimental group had less GAP-43 positive cells in the left L5 DRG than the controls (P<0.01). For the rats with both sciatic nerves cut off, the experimental group had less nerves with positive fibers-labeled HRP than the controls at the site of tSCI (P<0.01).
Conclusion: Endogenous BDNF promote the recovery of injured nervous system.