title: Primary and secondary microneuroanastomotic repair of the mental nerve in the rat.
abstract: The rate of sensory recovery and axonal regeneration after primary and secondary graft and direct microneuroanastomotic repair of the mental nerve was examined in the rat. The mental nerve was subject to experimental transection and immediately approximated with epineurial sutures, with or without a 3 mm autogenous nerve graft, left unapproximated, or left intact. 8 weeks later, the unapproximated stumps were rejoined with suture, with or without a nerve graft. Repair was evaluated using horseradish peroxidase as a tracer and electrically-evoked head withdrawal as a measure of gross sensation. The association in rates of recovery for the anastomosis groups were statistically significant. There was no significant association between negative and positive controls or anastomosis groups. Gross sensory return was established within 28 days of repair and axonal continuity was confirmed by the uptake of HRP in trigeminal ganglion cells. The present study strongly suggests that direct approximation and small autogenous interpositional nerve grafts have the same rate of recovery of gross sensation following primary and secondary repair of mental nerve transections in the rat.
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D008340:Mandibular Nerve / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery*; D008866:Microsurgery; D009416:Nerve Regeneration; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012677:Sensation; D013997:Time Factors