Catfish (Arius bilineatus, Val.) skin protein preparation ameliorates neurobehavioral and axonal and neuronal histopathological alterations in a sciatic nerve crush injury rat model: a novel approach

Abstract

Preliminary investigations showed that soluble protein fraction‐Fraction C (SPF‐FC) from catfish skin preparations (CSP) from the Arabian Gulf catfish (Arius bilineatus, Val.) exhibit potent anti‐inflammatory and healing properties as shown in our previous clinical trials for the healing of non‐healing diabetic foot ulcers, chronic back pain, and some other neurological disorders. The present study was designed to investigate the neuroprotective and neuroregenerative properties of SPF‐FC derived from CSP on the spinal neurons, regeneration of sciatic nerve fibers, and recovery of sensory‐motor functions in the sciatic nerve crush injury model. Male Wistar rats (weight 250–300 g) were randomly assigned to four groups: (I) SHAM, (II) CRUSH, (III) CRUSH+SPF treated intraperitoneally (IP) and (IV) CRUSH+SPF treated subcutaneously (SC) groups. Rats in CRUSH groups underwent surgery, where the sciatic nerve was crushed, followed by treatment with saline (II) or with 3–12 mg/Kg SPF IP (III) or SC (IV) daily for 14 days. All animals were tested for the neurobehavioral parameters throughout the 6 weeks of the study. Sciatic nerve and spinal cord tissues were processed for light and electron histological examinations, stereological analysis, immunohistochemical and biochemical examinations at Week 4 and Week 6 post‐injury. Administration of SPF IP or SC significantly (p<0.05–0.0001) enhanced the sensory and motor performance on different neurobehavioral functional tests of the nerve‐injured rats. The stereological evaluation revealed significant (p<0.000) histomorphological evidence of neuroregeneration in the sciatic nerve of the CRUSH+ SPF groups compared to controls at week 4 and 6. SPF‐FC treatment significantly prevented the decrease in the number of the NeuN‐immunoreactive spinal neurons ipsilateral to the crush injury, decreased the GFAP immunoreactive astrocytes and increased the GAP‐43 immunoreactivity. The data analysis supports our hypothesis that SPF‐FC immunoreactivity treatment lessens neurobehavioral deficits, enhances axonal regeneration and ameliorate histomorphological nerve alterations following nerve injury. Further, SPF‐FC protects spinal neurons and enhances subcellular recovery by decreasing the astrocytic activity and GAP‐43, thus improves nerve regeneration and functional recovery.Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported by Kuwait University Research Administration (KU Grants No. SL03/14 and SL04/09 and RCF/OMICSRU project SRUL02/13) and Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (Grant No. KFAS 2013‐1207‐01A‐D).This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.