ABSTRACT
Purpose:
To evaluate the effects on peripheral neural regeneration of the end-to-side embracing repair technique compared to the autograft repair technique in Wistar rats.
Methods:
Fifteen male Wistar rats were divided into three groups with five animals each: denervated group (GD), autograft group (GA), and embracing group (EG). For the evaluation, the grasping test, electroneuromyography (ENMG), and muscle weight assessment were used.
Results:
Muscle weight assessment and ENMG did not show significant neural regeneration at the end of 12 weeks in the DG and GE groups, but only in GA. The grasping test showed an increase in strength between the surgery and the fourth week in all groups, and only the GA maintained this trend until the 12th week.
Conclusions:
The present study indicates that the neural regeneration observed in the end-to-side embracing neurorrhaphy technique, in the repair of segmental neural loss, is inferior to autograft repair in Wistar rats.
Key words
Median Nerve; Microsurgery; Nerve Regeneration; Rats, Wistar
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*proximal stump; **distal stump. Source: Elaborated by the authors.
*ulnar nerve; **the medial nerve repaired through the embracing technique surrounding the median nerve. Source: Elaborated by the authors.
DG: denervated group, with the removal of 10 mm of length of the median nerve, without performing neurorrhaphy; GA: the excised segment was inverted and used as an autograft and repaired with 10-0 nylon monofilament suture using two simple sutures, both proximally and distally; GE: (A) median nerve had its proximal segment removed and discarded, with the distal stump embracing (B) the ulnar nerve and being sutured anteriorly to the epineurium of the ulnar nerve. Source: Elaborated by the authors.
Source: Archive of the Microsurgery Line of the Experimental Surgery Laboratory of Universidade do Estado do Pará.
Source: Archive of the Microsurgery Line of the Experimental Surgery Laboratory of Universidade do Estado do Pará.