Morphofunctional assessment of muscles of the lower leg and foot after autoneuroplasty of resection defect of tibial portion of the sciatic nerve and single intraoperative electrical neurostimulation in adult rats

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: There are no data in the literature on the effect of a single intraoperative electrical stimulation (IES) on the condition of the muscles of the lower leg and foot in the long-term period after autoplasty of the sciatic nerve in adult rats.

AIM: To study morphofunctional characteristics of muscles of the lower leg and foot after autoneuroplasty of a resection defect of the tibial portion of the sciatic nerve and a single IES in adult rats.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The experiment was performed on 30 Wistar rats who underwent autoneuroplasty (AN) after resection of the tibial portion of the sciatic nerve. Fourteen rats underwent a 40-munite IES session (AN + IES series). In 16 rats IES was not conducted (AN series). At 4 and 6 months after the operation, the tibial nerve function index (TFI) was calculated by analyzing rats’ paw traces on a walking track. At the same time, light microscopy and histomorphometry of paraffin and epoxy sections of gastrocnemius and plantar interosseous muscles were performed. A conventional control was muscles of intact limbs.

RESULTS: Atrophy and endomysial fibrosis were less expressed in the gastrocnemius of the AN + IES series in comparison with AN series, the effect was mediated by enhancement of vascularization. In plantar interosseous muscles at 4 months after the operation, the volume density of blood vessels in the AN + IES series was 7.35 (5.49; 8.69), which was greater than in the AN series — 3.43 (2.02; 5.59), р = 0.0196. Diameters of muscle fibers and volume density of endomysium were comparable. At 6 months after the operation, endomysial fibrosis progressed in both series, but in the AN + IES series, myopathically altered muscle fibers were less common. After 6-month observation, TFI increased (-47.95) in the AN + IES series and became higher (p = 0.0339) than in the AN series, in which TFI became even lower (-93.64) than it was after 4 months (-81.95) of the experiment.

CONCLUSION: A single IES permits to reduce the denervation alterations in the gastrocnemius and plantar interosseous muscles conditioned by damage to the nerve and maturation, and also to improve the tibial nerve function index in the long term after autoneuroplasty.

Keywords

rats / nerve / autoneuroplasty / intraoperative electrical stimulation / gastrocnemius, plantar interosseous muscles / histomorphometry

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Shchudlo NA, Varsegova TN, Stupina TA, Kubrak NV