Effect of gabapentin on primary surgical treatment of experimental sciatic nerve injury in rats

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study is to minimize the morbidity related to nerve injury by determining the protective effects of gabapentin in experimental sciatic nerve injury and end-to-end anastomosis model in rats and to guide clinical studies on this subject. METHODS: In our study, 40 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the following five groups: I: Only surgical intervention was applied; II: The sciatic nerve was cut properly and was repaired by end-to-end anastomosis. No additional procedure was performed; III: A single dose of gabapentin at 30 mg/kg was given after anastomosis; IV: 30 mg/kg gabapentin was given for 3 days after anastomosis; and V: 30 mg/kg gabapentin was given for 7 days after anastomosis. The experiment was terminated with high-dose thiopental (50 mg/kg) 60 days after the surgical intervention. The right sciatic nerve was taken from all animals. The obtained sections were examined immunohistopathologically. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical properties and Schwann cell proliferation were found to be statistically significantly lower in the control group than in the other groups. Schwann cell proliferation was higher in Group 3 than in Group 5. Immunohistochemical changes were significantly lower in Group 4 than in Group 3. Axonal degeneration was also higher in Group 4 than in Group 3. CONCLUSION: Gabapentin promotes neurological recovery histopathologically in peripheral nerve injury due to its neuroprotective properties. Our study results show that gabapentin can be used as an adjunctive therapy to primary surgical treatment after peripheral nerve injury.