Phrenic nerve transfer in the treatment of brachial plexus avulsion: an experimental study of nerve regeneration and muscle morphology in rats.
The regeneration of motor and sensory neurons and the morphological changes of the target muscle after phrenic nerve transfer were investigated in adult rats. Six months following nerve transfer, 326.0 +/- 16.31 phrenic motoneurons regenerated into musculocutaneous nerve, which is not different from the normal number of phrenic motoneurons. The regenerated motoneurons exhibited a 14% nonsignificant hypertrophy. Of the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons, 255.8 +/- 45.26 regenerated, which was significantly lower than the number of normal phrenic DRG neurons. The regenerated phrenic DRG neurons showed a 24% close-to-significant atrophy. The target muscle fiber morphology changed considerably after reinnervation. The present results suggest that the phrenic nerve has very good regenerative ability in terms of its motoneurons and a relatively insufficient sensory neuronal regeneration.
Zhang
Cheng-Gang
CG
Department of Hand and Plastic Surgery, University Hospital, Umeå, Sweden.
Ma
Jian-Jun
JJ
Terenghi
Giorgio
G
Mantovani
Cristina
C
Wiberg
Mikael
M
D000818:Animals; D020516:Brachial Plexus Neuropathies / Q000601:surgery*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009138:Musculocutaneous Nerve / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D016067:Nerve Transfer / Q000379:methods*; D010791:Phrenic Nerve / Q000637:transplantation*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012016:Reference Values