Drug Therapies for Peripheral Nerve Injuries

Abstract

Following a peripheral nerve injury (PNI), neurons have the capacity to regenerate but the rate is remarkably slow. Microsurgical treatments are used to reconnect the nerve stumps following a PNI and encourage the regeneration of axons; however, there are currently no therapies available to promote the rate of this regeneration. Drug therapies available for PNI tend to focus on the resulting symptoms such as neuropathic pain, inflammation, and weakness without modifying the condition itself. Effectively designed pharmacological treatments could potentially increase the regenerative rate as well as maintain neuronal viability and improve axonal specificity to target organs. Appropriate drug agents need to target specific events following a nerve injury and advancements in understanding of the molecular and cellular cascades which follow injury could inform this. Some drugs and targets within signaling pathways have been identified, but challenges remain with clinical translation.