Contribution of femoral and proximal sciatic nerve branches to the sensory innervation of hindlimb digits in the rat.

The present study was performed to investigate the possibility of "aberrant" innervation of the tips of the hindlimb digits in the rat, i.e., from other sources than the femoral and the main sciatic branches (tibial, peroneal, sural). Cutaneous injections of fluorescent tracers in the digits were combined with either selective nerve transections to restrict afferent routes followed by detection of labeled neurons in dorsal root ganglia (DRGs), or by a delayed application of a second tracer to afferent nerves under study to detect double labeled neurons in DRGs. The results show that the tips of the digits were represented in DRGs L3-6. The femoral nerve afferents from digits 1 and 2 projected primarily to DRG L3 and to a smaller extent to DRG L4. A small number of neurons from primarily medial digits 1 and 2, but also from lateral digits 3-5, were found to project to DRGs L4 and L5 via a proximal branch that leaves the sciatic nerve near the sciatic notch and runs distally in the posterior part of the thigh, here called the musculocutaneous nerve of the hindlimb. We also have some evidence indicating innervation of the tips of the digits from the posterior cutaneous nerve of the thigh. Aberrant innervation such as that described here might contribute to remaining and perhaps abnormal sensibility after nerve injury and is of interest for the interpretation of results in experimental studies of collateral and regenerative sprouting after such injury.