The vagus and recurrent laryngeal nerves in the rodent experimental model of esophageal atresia.
BACKGROUND
After surgical correction of their esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula (EA-TEF), many patients exhibit evidence of esophageal dysmotility. Controversy exists as to whether the esophageal motility disorders result from denervation caused by surgery or from an inherent abnormal innervation of the esophagus.


METHODS
The present study used an Adriamycin-induced EA-TEF fetal rat model to trace the course and branching of both the vagus and recurrent laryngeal nerves. Abnormalities observed in EA-TEF rat fetuses include: (1) fewer branches from both recurrent laryngeal nerves; (2) deviation of the left vagus from its normal course below the aorta, passing behind the fistula to approach and join with the right vagus to form a single nerve trunk on the right side of the esophagus; (3) relatively few branches from the single vagal nerve trunk (composed of fibers of the left and the right vagus) on the surface of the lower esophagus.


CONCLUSIONS
Fetuses affected by EA-TEF have inherent abnormalities in the course and branching pattern of the vagus nerves as they descend through the thorax, culminating in a deficient extrinsic nerve fiber plexus in the lower esophagus. These observations may account for the esophageal motility disorders seen in patients who have EA-TEF even before surgical intervention.
Qi
B Q
BQ
F. Douglas Stephen Surgical Research Laboratory, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
Merei
J
J
Farmer
P
P
Hasthorpe
S
S
Myers
N A
NA
Beasley
S W
SW
Hutson
J M
JM
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D004933:Esophageal Atresia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D015154:Esophageal Motility Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D004947:Esophagus / Q000294:innervation*; D005260:Female; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012009:Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve / Q000002:abnormalities*; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000002:abnormalities*