Induction of Regenerative Responses of Injured Sciatic Nerve by Pharmacopuncture Therapy in Rats

Although recent studies report that combined treatment of herbal drugs with acupuncture can improve clinical efficacy in traditional oriental medicine, experimental evidence that supports this pharmacopuncture therapy is rare thus far. Here, we investigated the effects of the herbal drug recipe Sciatica 5 (SCTA5) and acupuncture stimulation on gall bladder 30 (GB30) on regenerative responses of injured sciatic nerve in rats. Treatment of cultured dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons with SCTA5 improved neurite outgrowth. In vivo regenerative responses, in terms of distal extension of regenerating axons and retrogradely-labeled DRG neurons, were improved by either injury site application of SCTA5 or GB30 acupuncture stimulation and further increased by SCTA5 pharmacopuncture on GB30 acupoint. Moreover, combined treatment of SCTA5 and GB30 was more effective than singular treatments in inducing Cdc2 kinase and accompanying vimentin phosphorylation in Schwann cells of the injured nerve. These results suggest that SCTA5 and GB30 therapies may be cooperative in facilitating axonal regeneration in the injured peripheral nerves.