Experimental study of repairing peripheral nerve defects using bridging neurons

Objective To explore a novel method repairing peripheral nerve defects.Methods A nerve defect model was created by removing a 10 mm segment of the right common peroneal nerve in 54 male SD rats.These rats were randomly divided into three groups with 18 rats each.Animals in group A,the neuronbridging repair group,were subject to the following steps:trimming the proximal and distal ends of the common pemneal nerve into a 45 ° bevel; opening a window in the epineurium of the adjacent tibial nerve; and suturing the pemneal nerve ends to the tibial nerve in an end-to-side fashion.In group B,the proximal pemneal nerve end was ligated,tumed around and sewn into the adjacent muscle,while the distal pemneal nerve end was trimmed into a 45 ° bevel and sewn to an epineurium window on the tibial nerve in an end-to-side fashion.Group C was the autologous nerve graft group(control group),in which the cut pemneal nerve segment was sutured back in situ.Electrophysiology,transmission electron microscopy and toluidine blue staining of nerve sections were done 20 weeks after the operation.Results Nerve conduction velocity,compound muscle action potential amphtude and myelinated nerve fiber density in group A were significantly higher than those in group B 20 weeks postoperatively (P ＜ 0.05),but not significantly different from those in group C(P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion It is feasible to repair peripheral nerve defects in rats by using bridging neurons. Key words: Peripheral nerves;  Animal experimentation;  Nerve defect;  End-to-side neurorrhaphy;  Neuron-bridging repair