ORIGINAL PAPERS   

Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences 1998 March;42(1):11-21

Copyright © 1998 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Nerve regeneration over a 20-mm gap through a nerve conduit containing blood vessels in rats: the influence of interstump distance on nerve regeneration

Kakinoki R. ¹, Nishijima N. ¹, Ueba Y. ¹, Oka M. ², Yamamuro T. ¹, Nakamura T. ¹

¹ Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; ² Research Center for Biomedical Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Background. The ­present ­study ­was con­duct­ed in ­rats to inves­ti­gate wheth­er a ­tube ­with addi­tion­al intra­cham­ber vas­cu­lar­iza­tion ­could per­mit ­axons to ­extend ­over a dis­tance great­er ­than 10 mm, ­which ­appears to be ­the max­i­mum ­axon regen­er­a­tion dis­tance ­for ­rat sciat­ic ­nerve ­axons ­through a nor­mal emp­ty ­tube.
Methods. A ­sural ves­sel-con­tain­ing ­tube (­VCT) ­was ­designed ­and inter­posed ­between tran­sect­ed sciat­ic ­nerve ­stumps in ­the ­thigh, leav­ing a 20-mm inter­neu­ral ­gap.
Results. Twelve ­weeks ­after tubu­la­tion, ­six ­out of ­nine ­rats ­showed suc­cess­ful ­nerve regen­er­a­tion ­and re-in­ner­va­tion of ­the sole­us mus­cle ­using ­the ­VCT. At 24 ­weeks, intra­cham­ber ­nerve regen­er­a­tion ­and re-in­ner­va­tion of ­the sole­us ­and ped­al adduc­tor mus­cles ­were elec­tro­phys­io­log­i­cal­ly ­and his­to­log­i­cal­ly con­firmed in ­all ­rats. However, no neu­ral tis­sue ­was ­observed with­in ­any ligat­ed ­sural ves­sel-con­tain­ing ­tube (­LVCT) or emp­ty unmod­i­fied ­tube (ET) ­with a 20-mm inter­neu­ral ­gap. When ­nerves regen­er­at­ed in ­the ­VCT ­with a 20-mm ­gap ­were com­pared ­with ­those regen­er­at­ed in a ­VCT ­with a 10-mm ­gap 12 ­and 24 ­weeks ­after sur­gery, ­the ­results pro­duced by ­the ­VCT ­with a 20-mm ­gap ­were infe­ri­or to ­those ­after ­use of ­the ­VCT ­with a 10-mm ­gap, ­except ­for ­motor ­nerve con­duc­tion veloc­ity at 24 ­weeks.
Conclusions. The val­ue recov­ered to ­almost iden­ti­cal lev­els (­about 50-60% nor­mal) in ­both ­groups.