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 neuro-protective 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 signiifcantly. These ifndings suggest that L-carnitine exhibits neuroprotective effects on sciatic nerve crush injury in rats.

The accumulation of myelin debris may be a major contributor to the inlfammatory response after diffuse axonal injury. In this study, we examined the accumulation and clearance of myelin debris in a rat model of diffuse axonal injury. Oil Red O staining was performed on sections from the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and brain stem to identify the myelin debris. Seven days after diffuse axonal injury, many Oil Red O-stained particles were observed in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and brain stem. In the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, the amount of myelin debris peaked at 14 days after injury, and decreased signiifcantly at 28 days. In the brain stem, the amount of myelin debris peaked at 7 days after injury, and decreased signiifcantly at 14 and 28 days. In the cortex and hippocampus, some myelin debris could still be observed at 28 days after diffuse axonal injury. Our ifndings suggest that myelin debris may persist in the rat central ner-vous system after diffuse axonal injury, which would hinder recovery.

In this study, we developed a novel artiifcial nerve graft termed self-assembling peptide nanoifber scaffold (SAPNS)-containing poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) conduit (SPC) and used it to bridge a 10-mm-long sciatic nerve defect in the rat. Retrograde tracing, behavioral testing and histomorphometric analyses showed that compared with the empty PLGA conduit implanta-tion group, the SPC implantation group had a larger number of growing and extending axons, a markedly increased diameter of regenerated axons and a greater thickness of the myelin sheath in the conduit. Furthermore, there was an increase in the size of the neuromuscular junction and myoifber diameter in the target muscle. These ifndings suggest that the novel artiifcial SPC nerve graft can promote axonal regeneration and remyelination in the transected peripheral nerve and can be used for repairing peripheral nerve injury.

Even though many studies have identified roles of proteasomes in axonal degeneration, the mo-lecular mechanisms by which axonal injury regulates proteasome activity are stil unclear. In the present study, we found evidence indicating that extracellular calcium influx is an upstream regula-tor of proteasome activity during axonal degeneration in injured peripheral nerves. In degenerating axons, the increase in proteasome activity and the degradation of ubiquitinated proteins were sig-nificantly suppressed by extracellular calcium chelation. In addition, electron microscopic findings revealed selective inhibition of neurofilament degradation, but not microtubule depolymerization or mitochondrial swel ing, by the inhibition of calpain and proteasomes. Taken together, our findings suggest that calcium increase and subsequent proteasome activation are an essential initiator of neurofilament degradation in Wal erian degeneration.