The Effect of Nintedanib on the Formation of Epidural Fibrosis in an Experimental Rat Laminectomy Model

To investigate the effect of nintedanib on the formation of epidural fibrosis Twenty-one female Wistar albino rats were assigned to three groups ( n = 7), control (Group 1), 30 mg/kg nintedanib (Group 2), and 60 mg/kg nintedanib (Group 3). All rats underwent single-level T12 laminectomy. After four weeks, the vertebral column from T8 to L2, which included the paraspinal muscles and epidural scar tissue, was excised en bloc, and epidural fibrosis and arachnoidal scarring were graded histopathologically. Data are reported as median (25th-75th percentile) and frequency (percentage). p < 0.05 was the threshold for statistical significance. EF grades differed significantly across groups ( p = 0.003). Animals receiving 60 mg/kg nintedanib had lower EF grades than both controls ( p = 0.002) and the 30 mg/kg nintedanib group ( p = 0.038), while the control and 30 mg/kg groups did not differ significantly ( p = 0.209). A trend toward reduced arachnoid involvement was noted in treated groups, though without statistical significance ( p = 0.098). Our findings indicate that nintedanib may reduce epidural fibrosis in a dose-dependent manner. However, given that molecular assays were not included, mechanistic conclusions require confirmation in future work.