Determination of hemoglobin oxygen saturation in rat sciatic nerve by in vivo near infrared spectroscopy.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the values of hemoglobin oxygen saturation in the sciatic nerve of the rat following spinal nerve ligation. An optical spectroscopic technique along with a fiber optic probe was used to test the hypothesis that demyelination and degeneration after nerve injury lead to a significant decrease in the percentage of hemoglobin oxygen saturation. A modified spinal nerve ligation method was used to induce the degeneration, and three types of ligation on left spinal nerve (L4, L4 and L5, L5) were performed in rats. The optical reflectance measurements were taken from the left and right sciatic nerves on postoperative days 1, 4, 7, and 14. No significant difference was found among the three types of ligation, nor was between left and right sciatic nerve at postoperative day 1. Significant decreases in oxygen saturation percentages were found between left and right sciatic nerves at postoperative days 4, 7, and 14. This study continues to show the effectiveness of optical methods in determining/differentiating tissue properties, providing an excellent and robust in vivo technique that can have a potential clinical application in detecting demyelination and degeneration of the nervous system.