[Experimental study on demyelination and immunological rejection of rats' sciatic nerve allograft with tripterygium...

To investigate the appropriate concentration of tripterygium wilfordii and immunological rejection of rats' sciatic nerve allograft with the tripterygium wilfordii's pretreatment so as to explore tripterygium wilfordii's suppression.

Sixty SD rats (male, weighing 270-290 g), as sciatic nerve allograft acceptor were randomized into 5 groups (groups A, B, C, D and E, n = 12). To repair the sciatic nerve defect of SD rats, the Wistar rats' sciatic nerve allografts about 15 mm long were used with 24 hours' soak of different concentrations of tripterygium wilfordii (group A: 200 mg/L, group B: 400 mg/L, group C: 800 mg/L). The control groups (group D: the fresh sciatic nerve allograft from donors; group E: the fresh sciatic nerve allograft from themselves) were established. At different time points after operation, the morphological examinations (the observation of histology, light microscope, electron microscope), the detection of myelin basic protein's (MBP) content and the analyses of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells on the allografts in the acute phase were performed.

There was no significant difference in morphology among groups A, B and C, the adhesions between allografts and connective tissue were milder than that of group D, and the allografts' amorphous and the inflammatory cell infiltration were better than that of group D. The degeneration of myelin sheath was observed at different levels and there was no significant difference between group B and group E (P > 0.05). There was a significant difference in immunological rejection between groups A, B, C and group D (P < 0.05).

Tripterygium wilfordii can effectively suppress the acute immunological rejection in the early stage after operation, and protect the myelin sheath to a certain extent.