Nerve regeneration over a 20-mm gap through a nerve conduit containing blood vessels in rats: the influence of interstump distance on nerve regeneration.
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.
Kakinoki
R
R
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan.
Nishijima
N
N
Ueba
Y
Y
Oka
M
M
Yamamuro
T
T
Nakamura
T
T
D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D007440:Intubation; D008297:Male; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000502:physiology; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D009431:Neural Conduction; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013497:Sural Nerve / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013583:Synovial Membrane / Q000098:blood supply*