Effect Of D-Ribose-L-cysteine on associated complications in sciatic nerve crush injury model

Background: oxidative stress has been established as a significant factor in the pathogenesis of peripheral nerve injury. D-ribose-L-cysteine (DRLC) is an antioxidant agent with central neuroprotective effects. However, it is not known whether DRLC has protective effects on crush sciatic nerve injury. Twenty-five rats were divided into five groups of five rats each. In sham group (G1), the sciatic nerve was exposed but not crushed, whereas in negative control-14 group (G2), negative control-28 (G3), DRLC treated-14 group (G4) and DRLC treated-28 group (G5), the sciatic nerve was exposed and crushed with non-serrated forceps for 30 seconds. Rats in groups G2 and G3 were given normal saline orally, while DRLC (100 mg/kg, orally) was administered to rats in groups G4 and G5 for 14 and 28 straight days respectively. Fourteenth and 28th days post injury, functional recovery was analyzed using a walking track assessment and quantified using the sciatic functional index (SFI), while gastrocnemius atrophic change was evaluated using Gastrocnemius Mass Ratio (GMR), following which all rats were sacrificed, sciatic nerve tissue and gastrocnemius samples were obtained for histopathological evaluation and measurement of Malondialdehyde (MDA), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Catalase (CAT) values.
Results: The SFI and GMR scores in groups G2, G3, G4 and G5 were significantly lower than that of G1 group (p<0.05). The SOD values of G2 group, the CAT value of G2 were found to be significantly lower, while MDA value of G2 group was found to be significantly higher, when compared with G1 group respectively (p<0.05). CAT value G5 group showed higher significant difference when compared with G2 group, while MDA value of G5 group was found to be significantly lower than those of G2 and G3 groups (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The results indicated that DRLC administered for 28 days, had ameliorative effect on oxidative stress markers, but no restorative effect of DRLC was seen on motor function recovery and gastrocnemius atrophy. Further studies are needed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of DRLC applied in several doses, different administration route and longer duration in crush sciatic nerve injury models.