Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2015, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (10): 1669-1673.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.167768

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Femoral nerve regeneration and its accuracy under different injury mechanisms

Aikeremujiang·Muheremu1, 2, Qiang Ao3, Yu Wang2, Peng Cao4, Jiang Peng2, *   

  1. 1 Medical Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
    2 Institute of Orthopaedics, General Hospital of People’s Liberation Army, Beijing, China
    3 Department of Tissue Engineering, China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China
    4 Department of Orthopedics, Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China
  • Received:2015-08-21 Online:2015-10-28 Published:2015-10-28
  • Contact: Jiang Peng, M.D., Ph.D.,pengjdxx@126.com.
  • Supported by:

    This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81360194, and a grant from the National Basic Research Program of China, No. 2014CB542200.

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Abstract:

Surgical accuracy has greatly improved with the advent of microsurgical techniques. However, complete functional recovery after peripheral nerve injury has not been achieved to date. The mechanisms hindering accurate regeneration of damaged axons after peripheral nerve injury are in urgent need of exploration. The present study was designed to explore the mechanisms of peripheral
nerve regeneration after different types of injury. Femoral nerves of rats were injured by crushing or freezing. At 2, 3, 6, and 12 weeks after injury, axons were retrogradely labeled using 1,1′-dioctadecyl-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (Dil) and True Blue, and motor and sensory axons that had regenerated at the site of injury were counted. The number and percentage of Dil-labeled neurons in the anterior horn of the spinal cord increased over time. No significant differences were found in the number of labeled neurons between the freeze and crush injury groups at any time point. Our results confirmed that the accuracy of peripheral nerve regeneration increased with time, after both crush and freeze injury, and indicated that axonal regeneration accuracy was still satisfactory after freezing, despite the prolonged damage.