Morphometric analysis of the human femoral nerve and its ageing process.
We analysed the sizes of nerve fibres in the human femoral nerve which innervates the quadriceps femoris muscles. The material was taken from 14 cadavers aged from 61 to 97 years. A linear regression analysis disclosed a significant age-related decrease of the mean transverse area of axons. Such decrease with age may be an indication of motoneuron atrophy. Our results could help in the understanding of the correlation between morphology and function during the ageing process.
Amimoto
Kazu
K
Department of Anatomy, Showa University School of Medicine, Hatanodai, Tokyo, Japan.
Goto
Noboru
N
Goto
Jun
J
Ezure
Hiromitsu
H
Yanagisawa
Ken
K
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D001369:Axons / Q000473:pathology; D002102:Cadaver; D005260:Female; D005267:Femoral Nerve / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000473:pathology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation; D013848:Thigh