Progression of multiple innervation of reinnervated rat muscle treated with bilobalide]

During motor nerve regeneration a transitory polyinnervation of muscle cells occurs, which represents a phase of rearrangement of the recovered innervation. Bilobalide, a terpene extrated from Ginkgo biloba leaves, was proposed to affect some aspects of nervous system development and regeneration. In this work, influence of bilobalide on polyinnervation in reinnervated extensor digitorum longus muscle was studied, through electrophysiological and histological techniques. The muscle was denervated crushing the sciatic nerve and it was examined at 1 or 2 months after denervation. The polyinnervated muscle cells in controls reached 24% at 1 month and thus the percentage decreased. In muscles of bilobalide treated rats the number of polyinnervated cells was decreased at both times.