Study On The Laboratorial Recovery Of Rat Brachial Plexus Injury Treated With Manipulation Of Mechanical Vibration Of The Three Hand Yin And Three Hand Yang Meridians And Acupoints

Objective: Using a manipulation of mechanical vibration technique with a home-made automatic machine of manipulation to treat rats with brachial plexus nerve injury; and observing the effect of this treatment on nerve recovery in the rat brachial plexus. The mechanism of action of recovery was also investigated.Method: Right-sided brachial plexus injury was induced in 144 Wistar rats by surgical methods. They were then allowed to heal for one week before the various treatment methods were performed. Afterwards, the rats were allocated randomly and equally into three groups that each contained forty eight rats. The first group was treated by manipulation of mechanical vibration, the second group was treated by injecting NGF into the pectoralis major of the rats, and the third group which had received no medical treatment was the model comparison group. Each group was then allocated randomly and equally into four subgroups so that each subgroup contained twelve rats. These subgroups were named 1d (1 day), 7d (7 days), 14d (14days), 21d (21 days) and 28d (28 days). Each group was sacrificed at the appropriate time, and various parameters were taken. We measured and compared the diameter of both forelimbs, measured the electrophysiology of the brachial plexus ex vivo, used immunohistochemistry to treat the submandibular gland, and observed the nerve cell ultrastructure under a microscope using HE-stained brachial plexus. The activity of muscular Na, K-ATPase was also measured.Results: In the 14 day, 21 day, and 28 day groups, the difference in forelimb diameter of the manipulation of mechanical vibration group and the NGF treatment group was significantly lower than that of the model comparison group (~aP<0.05, ~bP<0.01). In the 21 day and 28 day groups, the difference in forelimb diameter in the manipulation of mechanical vibration group was significantly lower than that in the NGF treatment group (~cP<0.05).In the 21 day and 28 day group, the MNCV of the manipulation of mechanical vibration group and the NGF treatment group was significantly faster than that of the model comparison group (~aP<0.05, ~bP<0.01). In the 28 day group, the MNCV in the manipulation of mechanical vibration group was significantly faster than that in the NGF treatment group (~cP<0.05).The MNAP in the 14 day, 21 day, and 28 day groups of the manipulation of mechanical vibration group and NGF group were significantly higher than that of the model comparison group (~aP<0.05, ~bP<0.01). The MNAP of the manipulation of mechanical vibration group was significantly higher than that of the NGF group in the 21 day and 28 day groups (~cP<0.05).In the 7day group, NGF concentration in the rat submandibular gland of the model comparison group was significantly higher than that of the manipulation of mechanical vibration group and NGF group (~aP<0.05). NGF concentration in the rat submandibular gland in the 14day model comparison and NGF groups were significantly higher than that of the manipulation of mechanical vibration group (~aP<0.05, ~bP<0.05). NGF concentration in the rat submandibular gland in the 21 day and 28 day groups of the manipulation of mechanical vibration group and NGF group were significantly higher than that of the model comparison group (~aP<0.05)The Na, K-ATPase activity in the model comparison group was significantly higher than that of the NGF treatment group (~aP<0.05) in the 14 day groups. In the 28 day groups, the Na, K-ATPase activity in the manipulation of mechanical vibration group was significantly higher than that of the model comparison group (~a P<0.05).Conclusion: The results indicate that the manipulation of mechanical vibration treatment is more effective in treating rat brachial plexus injury than the NGF treatment. The manipulation of mechanical vibration treatment can increase the speed at which the injured brachial plexus recovers, slow down the rate of muscle atrophy in the surrounding tissue, and also stimulates NGF production in the rat submandibular gland.