The AAPS 102nd Annual Meeting

Histologic Analysis Of Rodent Upper Limb Nerves Treated With Peripheral And Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation

Introduction

•Trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) improves functional outcomes after peripheral nerve injury (PNI)

•The proposed mechanism of TNS is that it induces a targeted neuroplasticity in the primary motor cortex to compensate for errors in staggered growth without directly affecting the recovering nerve

•Nerves treated with TNS have never been examined histologically

•Hypotheses:

1. Nerves treated with TNS will appear similar to unstimulated nerves

2. Nerves treated with PNS will appear similar to uninjured nerves

3. Ratio of fascicular area will be greater in nerves treated with PNS

Methods

•45 adult male Lewis rats (~250g) trained in an isometric pull task

•Randomized into 4 groups:

•Sham injury

•PNI with sham PNS and TNS

•PNI with active PNS and sham TNS

•PNI with sham PNS and active TNS

•PNI: transection and 2mm gap repair of median and ulnar nerve

•PNS: 1 hour during injury surgery, post repair

•Rehabilitated on motor task and data recorded in weekly epochs for 6 weeks

•TNS: 500ms train with each successful pull

•Paw withdrawal thresholds recorded biweekly with Von Frey filament device

•Nerves sectioned and stained with Gomori’s Trichrome

Conclusions

•TNS and PS improve both motor and sensory outcomes of PNI

•TNS improves functional outcomes without improving the histology of the regenerating nerve

•These findings offer more evidence to support a central mechanism of TNS for PNI

•Possible clinical applications:

•Tendon/nerve transfers

•Pollicization

•High/mixed nerve injuries

The AAPS 102nd Annual Meeting

Histologic Analysis Of Rodent Upper Limb Nerves Treated With Peripheral And Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation

Poster Presenter

Authors

Affiliations

Part of Topic