Astragaloside IV contributes to sciatic nerve regeneration

Astragaloside IV, the main component of the traditional Chinese medicine astragalus membra-naceus, has been shown to inhibit inflammation, oxidation, and apoptosis, and exerts immu-noregulatory effects. Xiaohong Zhang and colleagues from School of Pharmacutical Sciences, Jilin University investigated whether astragaloside IV could promote the repair of injured sciatic nerve. Denervated sciatic nerve of mice was subjected to anastomosis. The mice were intraperitoneally injected with 10, 5, 2.5 mg/kg astragaloside IV per day for 8 consecutive days. The researchers found that astragaloside IV contributed to sciatic nerve regeneration and functional recovery in mice. The mechanism underlying this effect may be associated with the upregulation of growth-associated protein-43 expression. These findings were published the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 24, 2013).

Source: Neural Regeneration Research