Nerve repair by end-to-side nerve coaptation: histologic and morphometric evaluation of axonal origin in a rat sciatic nerve model.

Objective: We compared the origin and quality of regenerating myelinated axons after end-to-side neurorrhaphy or end-to-end neurorrhaphy.

Methods: Transected adult rat tibial nerves were either end-to-end coapted or the distal stump was sutured to a perineurial window of the fibular nerve. Electromyographic recordings from the gastrocnemius muscle 8 weeks later revealed reinnervation by tibial nerve axons.

The effects of FGF-2 gene therapy combined with voluntary exercise on axonal regeneration across peripheral nerve gaps.

Studies were conducted to determine the possibility that voluntary exercise could enhance regenerative effects of gene therapy via Schwann cells (SC) over-expressing FGF-2. Sedentary or exercise rehabilitation conditions were therefore provided shortly after reconstructing 10mm sciatic nerve gaps in rats with silicone grafts. Exercise for 7 days elevated mRNA levels of regeneration associated proteins (GAP-43 and synapsin I) in lumbar spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia of SC transplanted, in contrast to non-cellular reconstructed rats.