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The levels of neurotrophic factors and the protein composition of somatic nerve membranes were studied during injury and survival of nerves in rats exposed to the action of clobetasol. It was shown that the drug administered intramuscularly induced a more pronounced increase in the level of neurotrophic growth factors and structural proteins responsible for recovery processes than the drug released from a hydrogel derived from microbial polysaccharides; it also stabilized the content of the total protein fraction in the damaged somatic nerves. Proteins of the injured neural conductor degraded less in animals receiving intramuscular injections of clobetasol, probably because the drug administered by injection had better availability than the drug administered from hydrogel composite (slow drug release). In addition, an increase in the amounts of DNA and some protein fractions indicated that clobetasol contributed the activation of genes associated with remyelination. We suppose that clobetasol can stimulate synthesis of neurotrophic growth factors, thereby triggering the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways that regulate the processes of cytoskeletal reorganization and axonal growth, as well as enhance the synthesis of structural and axonal proteins necessary to restore the functional activity of the injured nerve fibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]