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. 2023 Feb 3;15(2):508. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15020508

Figure 4.

Figure 4

The efficacy of Hydrogel-Tac on the sciatic nerve recovery, assessed using five-toe spread analysis. (A) Representative photographs of five-toe spread on postoperative day 94 in different groups. Normal control means that the sciatic nerve was not transected, indicating that the five toes of the feet can normally and completely open. In the hydrogel and Hydrogel-Tac groups, the sciatic nerves of the mice’s right hindlimb were cut and then anastomosed with 10/0 sutures. Subsequently, 0.1 mL of hydrogel or encapsulated-tacrolimus hydrogel at one of various concentrations was injected into the subcutaneous space of the right hindlimb. (B) The measurements of the five-toe spread in the hydrogel and Hydrogel-Tac groups following sciatic nerve transection up to postoperative day (POD) 225. The cumulative graph is expressed as a percentage of the postoperative five-toe spread distance divided by the pretransection distance. The hydrogel, Hydrogel-Tac (0.1 mg/mL), Hydrogel-Tac (0.2 mg/mL), Hydrogel-Tac (0.5 mg/mL), Hydrogel-Tac (1 mg/mL), and Hydrogel-Tac (2 mg/mL) groups had six, five, five, eight, five, and six mice, respectively. The statistical comparison of mean ± SD of the hydrogel group with the other groups displayed a significant difference (p = 0.0001, one-way ANOVA; hydrogel vs. Hydrogel-Tac (0.1 mg/mL), p = 0.0994; hydrogel vs. Hydrogel-Tac (0.2 mg/mL), p = 0.0447; hydrogel vs. Hydrogel-Tac (0.5 mg/mL), p = 0.0077; hydrogel vs. Hydrogel-Tac (1 mg/mL), p = 0.0297; hydrogel vs. Hydrogel-Tac (2 mg/mL), p = 0.2345; Tukey’s test). The average distance of the five-toe spread in the normal mouse group was 9.998 ± 0.05317 mm. (C) The measurements of the five-toe spread in the hydrogel and systemic Tac groups following sciatic nerve transection up to POD 99. The injection dosage of the hydrogel group was the same as above. Each mouse in the systemic Tac group received an intraperitoneal injection (2 mg/kg), daily, until POD 99. Both groups contained six mice. Mean ± SD was used to represent the statistical data. The comparison of the hydrogel group with the systemic Tac group showed a significant difference on POD 37, 51, and 99 (POD 37, p = 0.0071; POD 51, p = 0.021; POD 99, p = 0.0158, unpaired t-test).