[Review of the peripheral nerve].
The peripheral nerve provides the pathway for motor, sensory, and vegetative axons belonging to the peripheral nervous system. It transmits information between these neurons and their peripheral effectors in both directions (sensory receptors, skeletal muscles, and viscera). The afferences to the periphery correspond to the nerve motor content, whereas efferences from the periphery, in charge of delivering information to the central integrators, correspond to nerve-sensitive content. This information support depends on the intrinsic properties of the nerve itself. Peripheral nerve injuries are frequent and generate significant deficits. Their treatment sometimes leads to functional recovery but is mostly incomplete or unpredictable, despite the regular use of sophisticated repair techniques. The clinician must clearly understand the peripheral nervous system's responses to injury, which reveal surprising degenerating and spontaneous regenerating abilities. This potential recovery is a peripheral nervous system specificity and follows a relatively complex process. Peripheral neurons depend on glial cell structure and metabolism, inducing the global and dynamic response of the whole axon environment, even in cases of focal lesion, modulated by the initial type and mechanism of injury. Today's progress remains insufficient to improve functional prognosis significantly, but a better understanding of peripheral nerve regenerating processes obtained in cellular and molecular biology has opened the door to new medical and surgical advances.
Service de neurochirurgie, CHU La Milétrie, 2, rue de la Milétrie, BP 577, 86021 Poitiers cedex, France. p.rigoard@chu-poitiers.fr
P
P
Rigoard
F
F
Lapierre
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000502:physiology; D059348:Peripheral Nerve Injuries; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology