Nerve growth factor is expressed in rat femoral vein.
OBJECTIVE
Entubulization is a well known method of nerve repair for defects too large to be reconstructed by direct suturing without tension. Vein grafts and alloplastic tubes have been used for entubulization in peripheral and cranial nerves, but the mechanism by which they promote healing is poorly understood. The overall hypothesis of this laboratory is that nerve growth factor (NGF) plays an important role in nerve regeneration after entubulization with a vein graft. The purpose of this pilot study was to localize NGF protein expression in the rat femoral vein.


METHODS
Sciatic nerves and femoral veins were harvested from adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. Femoral arteries were also collected and used for comparison and validation of the analysis. All specimens were fixed in paraformaldehyde and embedded in paraffin. Specimens were either stained with hematoxylin and eosin or used for immunohistochemical reaction with anti-NGF antibody.


RESULTS
Sciatic nerve was used as a positive control to identify the monofascicular architecture with hematoxylin and eosin and to document the positive immunohistochemical reaction. NGF immunoreactivity was present in the tunica intima and tunica adventitia of femoral vein and artery but not in the tunica media.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this pilot study indicate that NGF is detectable in both the intimal and adventitial layers of the rat femoral vein and artery but not in the smooth muscle wall. These findings suggest that vein grafts could potentially promote nerve regeneration by supplying NGF to the injured nerve.
Levine
Marci H
MH
Skeletal Biology Research Center and Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Yates
Karen E
KE
Kaban
Leonard B
LB
D000818:Animals; D004396:Coloring Agents; D004547:Elastic Tissue / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004801:Eosine Yellowish-(YS); D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005268:Femoral Vein / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006416:Hematoxylin; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D009416:Nerve Regeneration; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000379:methods; D010865:Pilot Projects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000601:surgery; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
D004396:Coloring Agents; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor; D004801:Eosine Yellowish-(YS); D006416:Hematoxylin