title: The multiple silicone tube device, "tubes within a tube," for multiplication in nerve reconstruction.
abstract: Multiple nerve branches were created during the regeneration procedure after a nerve injury and such multiple branches are suggested to be used to control, for example, prosthesis with many degrees of freedom. Transected rat sciatic nerve stumps were inserted into a nine mm long silicone tube, which contained four, five mm long, smaller tubes, thus leaving a five mm gap for regenerating nerve fibers. Six weeks later, several new nerve structures were formed not only in the four smaller tubes, but also in the spaces in-between. The 7-9 new continuous nerve structures, which were isolated as individual free nerves after removal of the tubes, were delineated by a perineurium and contained both myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers as well as blood vessels. Stimulation of the proximal nerve elicited contractions in distal muscles. Thin metal electrodes, inserted initially into the smaller tubes in some experiments, became embedded in the new nerve structures and when stimulated contractions of the distal muscles were observed. The "tubes within a tube" technique, creating multiple new nerves from a single "mother" nerve, can be used to record multiple signals for prosthetic device control or as sources for supply of multiple denervated targets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology/Functional Zoology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 35, 223 62 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7813-8822
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö/Hand Surgery, Lund University and Skåne University Hospital, Jan Waldenströms Gata 5, 205 02 Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lars B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Dahlin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004210:Dissection; D004566:Electrodes; D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D048091:Guided Tissue Regeneration / Q000379:methods*; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects*; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D012828:Silicones / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D012828:Silicones