Fig. 6

Effect of PEA-OXA on neural regeneration and functional recovery after sciatic nerve crush. a The western blot analysis of the lumbar portion of the spinal cord showed the expression and relative densitometric analysis for NGF; the PEA-OXA treatment was able to significantly increase the NGF compared with vehicle group. As an index of functional nerve recovery, we evaluated the sciatic functional index SFI (b), the SFI value varies from 0 to − 100, with 0 corresponding to normal function and − 100 corresponding to complete dysfunction. For beam walk test to assess motor coordination improvement after sciatic nerve crush, the test consists of evaluating the ability of mice to cross a wooden beam, the PEA-OXA treatment significantly improves the motor coordination when compared with the vehicle group. In fact, the mice of the vehicle group showed a greater number of sliding of the paw (c), a greater time of crossing of the beam (d), and a greater freeze time spent during the crossing (e). Each data are expressed as mean ± SEM from N  =  10 mice for each group. ***p < 0.001 vs corresponding sham group. ##p < 0.01 vs. vehicle group. ###p < 0.001 vs. vehicle group