Author/Editor     Kovačič, Uroš; Bajrović, Fajko; Sketelj, Janez
Title     Recovery of cutaneous pain sensitivity after end-to-side nerve repair in the rat
Type     članek
Source     J Neurosurg
Vol. and No.     Letnik 91
Publication year     1999
Volume     str. 857-62
Language     eng
Abstract     Object. The hypothesis that collaterally sprouting axons from an uninjured donor nerve may provide recovery of pain sensitivity in the skin after end-to-side nerve repair was investigated in rats. In addition, the effects of this technique on the donor nerve was examined. Methods. The distal stump of the transected peroneal nerve was sutured end to side to the intact sural nerve. No epineural window or perineural slit was made in the sural nerve at the site of coaptation. Other nerves in the leg were transected and ligated. Eighteen weeks later, the sural nerve was transected at a site distal from the coaptation site. The residual pain sensitivity in the peroneal innervation field in the instep was documented using the skin pinch test in three of 11 animals. The area of sensitivity encompassed 19 to 40% of the maximum nociceptive innervation area of the normal peroneal nerve. The nerve pinch test revealed functional sensory axons in all communicating peroneal nerves, in which 277 +- 119 myelinated axons (mean +- standard deviation) were found by histological investigation. Conclusions. The authors conclude that at least partial recovery of sensory functional due to collateral sprouting of axons after end-to-side nerve repair is possible in principle. However, the presence of functional sensory axons in the peroneal nerve stumps did not guarantee the recovery of skin sensitivity to pain in all animals. No functional or morphological evidence of an untoward effect of collateral sproting into the end-to-side communicating nerve was detected in the axons of the donor nerve itself.
Descriptors     PERONEAL NERVE
SURAL NERVE
NERVE REGENERATION
PAIN THRESHOLD
RATS, WISTAR
NERVE FIBERS, MYELINATED
NEURONS, AFFERENT
NOCICEPTORS
SKIN
WALLERIAN DEGENERATION