Tumor necrosis factor promotes motor functional recovery in crushed peripheral nerve.

The potential benefits of tumor necrosis factor pretreatment in promoting motor functional recovery of peripheral nerve following low load crush injury were examined. Using a specially designed crush device, rat sciatic nerve was subjected to a low load crush injury of 2-h duration. Recombinant murine tumor necrosis factor and saline were intraperitoneally injected into the experimental and control animals, respectively, prior to nerve crushing. Subsequent motor function was evaluated at intervals by measurement of the sciatic functional index. There was significantly (P < 0.05 to < 0.01) more rapid recovery in the tumor necrosis factor pretreated group as compared to the controls between day 14 and day 28. The sciatic functional index in the tumor necrosis factor group improved to -69.3 +/- 5.3 at day 14 and to nearly normal at day 21. In contrast, the sciatic functional index in the control group was -95.5 +/- 3.1% at day 14 and did not approach normal until day 42. Histological results paralleled the functional findings. The results suggest that tumor necrosis factor pretreatment has the potential to attenuate neurostructural damage and promote motor functional recovery in rat peripheral nerve.