The Rabbit Brachial Plexus as a Model for Nerve Repair Surgery—Histomorphometric Analysis |
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| Authors: | Paweł Reichert Zdzisław Kiełbowicz Piotr DziĘgiel Bartosz Puła Jan Kuryszko Jerzy Gosk Aneta Bocheńska |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Traumatology, Clinic of Traumatology and Hand Surgery, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroc?aw, Poland;2. Department of Surgery, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroc?aw, Poland;3. Department of Histology and Embryology, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroc?aw, Poland;4. Department of Animal Physiology and Biostructure, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland;5. Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, Poland |
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| Abstract: | One of the most devastating injuries to the upper limb is trauma caused by the avulsion. The anatomical structure of the rabbit's brachial plexus is similar to the human brachial plexus. The aim of our study was to analyze the microanatomy and provide a detailed investigation of the rabbit's brachial plexus. The purpose of our research project was to evaluate the possibility of utilizing rabbit's plexus as a research model in studying brachial plexus injury. Studies included histomorphometric analysis of sampled ventral branches of spinal nerves C5, C6, C7, C8, and Th1, the cranial trunk, the medial part of the caudal trunk, the lateral part of the caudal trunk and peripheral nerve. Horizontal and vertical analysis was done considering following features: the axon diameter, fiber diameter and myelin sheath. The number of axons, nerve area, myelin fiber density and minimal diameter of myelin fiber, minimal axon diameter and myelin area was marked for each element. The changes between ventral branches of spinal nerves C5–Th1, trunks and peripheral nerve in which the myelin sheath, axon diameter and fiber diameter was assessed were statistically significant. It was found that the g‐ratio has close value in the brachial plexus as in the peripheral nerve. The peak of these parameters was found in nerve trunks, and then decreased coherently with the nerves travelling peripherally. Anat Rec, 298:444–454, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
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| Keywords: | brachial plexus spinal nerve peripheral nerve rabbit anatomy |
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