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Electrical Stimulation Improve Muscle and Nerve Regeneration after End-to-Side Neurorraphy of the Fibular Nerve in Rats
Fausto Viterbo, PhD; Fábio Oliveira Maciel; Laís de Fátima Chuvukian Chinaque; Bárbara Moraes Souza
Sao Paulo State University, Botucatu, Brazil
Introduction: The muscle reinnervation with end-to-end or end-to-side neurorraphy (ESN) isn’t able to totally recover the muscle motor function. One of the main challenges is how to maintain the reinnervated muscle healthy until the reinnervation gets into it.
The objective is to analyze the efficiency of the electric stimulation in the muscle maintenance and nerve regeneration after ESN.
Method: We performed electrical stimulation in rats after they had been through muscle reinnervation by ESN. 60 Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus), males, were divided in four experimental groups: Control Group (Control); Dennervated Group (Dennervated); Group with End-to-Side Neurorraphy (ESN); Group with End-to-Side Neurorraphy (ESN) and Electrical Stimulation (ESN+ES). We used alternating current, with 1Khz frequency, 10 Hz modulation, with 2 ms duration, contraction time of 10 seconds by relaxing time of 20 seconds, during 10 minutes. We performed the walking evaluation test, electrophysiological study, maximum force of contraction, morphometry of the tibial cranial muscle (MTC) and fibular nerve.
Results: The mass of the experimental MTC in comparation with the mass of the normal MTC showed a lower loss in the ESN+ES group (26,12%) than in the ESN group (37,23 %). The functional index showed that the ESN+ES group equaled to the Control group and showed an evolution of 60,5% while the ESN group obtained evolution of 9,5%. The maximum force of the ESN+ES group exceeded the ESN group. The muscle and nervous morphometry showed superiority of the ESN+ES group comparing to the ESN group for all the parameters.
Conclusion: We concluded that the electrical stimulation was effective in the functional maintaining of the muscle and nerve regeneration after ESN.
Key words: End-to-Side Neurorraphy, electrical stimulation, cranial tibial muscle, fibular nerve, rats.
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