Preferential motor reinnervation in the mouse: comparison of femoral nerve repair using a fibrin sealant or suture.
Previous studies in rat femoral nerve demonstrated that regenerating motor axons preferentially reinnervate a nerve branch to muscle as opposed to skin, a process that has been termed preferential motor reinnervation (PMR). This process has not been previously reported in the mouse, where the use of transgenic animals could be a powerful tool to study the basic mechanisms that determine accuracy of regenerating motor axons. In the mouse, we applied the same nerve repair (suture) and retrograde labeling strategies that successfully demonstrated PMR in the rat femoral nerve but surprisingly were unable to demonstrate PMR. However, if the mouse femoral nerve was repaired with a fibrin sealant, PMR was readily apparent, suggesting that PMR in the mouse is dependent on the method of nerve repair.
Robinson
Grant A
GA
Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Madison
Roger D
RD
D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005267:Femoral Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D005337:Fibrin; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D012867:Skin / Q000294:innervation; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000166:cytology; D013537:Sutures
D004396:Coloring Agents; D005337:Fibrin