The changes of peripheral nerve microstructure after surgical manipulation--experiment on rat model.

The aim of our study was to describe histopathology of the peripheral nerve after its circular release followed by embedding in different environs. We operated on 18 male rats divided into 3 groups. In the first group right femoral nerve was surgically released. In the second group the nerve was enveloped by the subcutaneous fat flap. In the third one the nerve was wrapped up by the skeletal muscle. Six weeks later the animals were killed by exsanguination. The femoral nerve, in the first group, did not show any pathological changes. In the second group 3 animals appeared normal or nearly normal, nevertheless in 3 of them perineural fibrosis and axonal degeneration were observed. Histological reaction in the third group disclosed dispersed axonal injury. Our experiments using rat model imitate situation in humans. The results obtained will help us in making meaningful decision when performing peripheral nerve injury.