Restoration of full mass in nerve-intact muscle grafts after delayed reinnervation.
A rat muscle freely grafted with the motor nerve intact becomes restored to full mass and contractile function, in contrast to the reduced weight of a standard free graft. By crushing the nerve to a nerve-intact graft and delaying reinnervation, full mass is still restored. One can conclude that earlier reinnervation is not the reason for the success of nerve-intact grafts, but that it is rather due to reinnervation along preserved Schwann cell channels.
D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D009121:Muscle Denervation; D009132:Muscles / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000294:innervation / Q000637:transplantation*; D009416:Nerve Regeneration; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction / Q000502:physiology*; D009929:Organ Size; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous / Q000379:methods