The advances in microsurgery procedures and the detailed knowledge of regeneration may contribute significantly to the improvement of the results of peripheral nerve repair. In the last years, several authors have used series of tissues and substances interposed between the stumps of the sectioned peripheral nerve, trying to stimulate the axon growth in the lesion site. Using the nerve entubulation technique, the author studied the effect of two neurokines, cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1) and oncostatin M (OsM), in the axonal growth and in the survival rate of sensory neurons of L-5 root ganglion after sciatic nerve lesion in C57BL/6J mice. The author used three groups of five animals that had their sciatic nerve sectioned and repaired with polyethylene tubular prostheses filled with cardiotrophin-1, oncostatin -M or cytochrome-C, dissolved in the collagen extract. The fourth group of three non-operated animals, were used the normal control group. Four weeks after surgery, the mice were sacrificed. The myelinated axons of the removed regenerating nerve cable were counted. The L-5 dorsal root ganglions were also dissected to count sensory neurons. Data were statistically analyzed, which allowed us conclude that both neurokines were effective in causing axonal sprouting, but they could not prevent sensory neuron death in L-5 dorsal root ganglion.
