title: Study of sensory and motor fascicles in brachial plexus and establishment of a digital three-dimensional graphic model.
abstract: To investigate a 3-dimensional (3D) model of human brachial plexus including its topography of sensory and motor fascicles with the assistance of the computer technology, 2 brachial plexus were serially horizontally sliced. Each slice was stained by Karnovsky-Roots acetylcholinesterase histochemical method. The stained sections were scanned, and the image was put into the computer serially. At last, the 3D diagram of brachial plexus was made. The internal structure of the brachial plexus was found to be very complicated. The fascicles bifurcated and recombined with one another with no fixed rules. All fascicles were mixed sensory and motor fibers. Acetylcholinesterase histochemical staining from a serial tissue section is a useful technique to distinguish sensory fibers from motor ones. The 3D visualization of the brachial plexus may help to develop a computerized database of the fascicle topography to provide an anatomical reference in fascicular repair of brachial plexus.
authors: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors: Zenggan
authors: Z
authors: Chen
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Tongyi
authors: T
authors: Chen
authors: Zhongwei
authors: Z
authors: Chen
authors: Hua
authors: H
authors: Li
authors: Elizabeth W
authors: EW
authors: Zhang
authors: William C
authors: WC
authors: Lineaweaver
authors: Feng
authors: F
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001917:Brachial Plexus / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002102:Cadaver; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012984:Software; D013194:Staining and Labeling