The Effects of Sodium Metasilicate on Spinal Motoneuron Recovery Following Sciatic Nerve Injury

The document presents several studies, one of which investigated the protective effects of sodium metasilicate (SM) on spinal motoneuron recovery following sciatic nerve injury in rats. In this study, rats with sciatic nerve lesions were divided into control, sham, and experimental groups, with the experimental group receiving 6 mg/kg of SM. After a month, the numerical density (Nv) of alpha motoneurons (AM) in the ventral horn of the lumbar spinal cord was measured. The results showed that the Nv of AM in the experimental group was significantly higher than in the sham group (p<0.05) and not significantly different from the control group, suggesting that SM administration has a beneficial effect on the survival of AM and may prevent or delay central degeneration. Another study focused on hair follicle regeneration in rats, identifying the presence of neutral, sulfated, and carboxylated acidic glycoproteins in the regenerating hair follicle, which increased from the mid-stage of repair and may be related to improved healing processes. Lastly, a comparison of mesenchymal progenitor cell coating on mineralized bone allograft (MBA) and demineralized bone matrix (DBM) as biochemical scaffolds showed better cell coating on DBM, with nearly 50% coating compared to 30% for MBA.