Sensory response following knee joint damage in rabbits.
BACKGROUND
Altered sensory information arising from damaged knee joint structures has been hypothesized as a contributing factor to persistent muscle dysfunction following injury.


METHODS
Composite femoral nerve sensory signal was measured in 24 rabbits randomly allocated (8 per group) to receive surgical anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) transection with or without autograft reconstruction or nothing (control). Two-weeks after the intervention composite afferent signals were recorded from the femoral nerve. Side-to-side ratios (surgical side vs contralateral healthy side) for peak femoral nerve afferent composite signal were used for comparison.


RESULTS
Femoral nerve afferent signal ratios were significantly higher in the ACL-R (2.21 ± 0.74) group when compared to the ACL-T (1.28 ± 0.61, P=0.02) group and Control group (1.31 ± 0.78, P=0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
The magnitude of sensory information recorded on the femoral nerve is increased following ACL injury and reconstruction surgery, but not after an isolated ACL injury in rabbits.
Department of Kinesiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA. jmh3zf@virginia.edu.
Joseph M
JM
Hart
Matthew
M
Bessette
Luke
L
Choi
MaCalus V
MV
Hogan
David
D
Diduch
D000818:Animals; D005267:Femoral Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000294:innervation* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000502:physiology*; D011817:Rabbits; D011897:Random Allocation