Despite the best of modern microsurgical skills, the functional result that is achieved following the repair of a severed peripheral motor nerve has usually been less than complete. In an attempt to reduce or prevent denervation atrophy we have devised a totally implantable system of electrical stimulation and have examined its effect on the target muscle of a repaired peripheral nerve. In this study, twenty New Zealand white rabbits were divided into two groups: in one group the rectus femoris muscle is electrically stimulated after microsurgical repair of the femoral nerve; whereas the control group undergoes microsurgical repair of the femoral nerve only. Comparing the muscles to their contralateral counterparts at eight weeks post-op we found that electrical stimulation resulted in (a) the retention of 79+/$-$5(SEM)% of muscle bulk (compared to 42+/$-$3% in the non-stimulated group) p $<$ 0.001, (b) a maximum force of tetanic contraction averaging 41+/$-$5% of normal (compared to 19+/$-$4% in the non-stimulated group) p $<$ 0.01, (c) less myofiber atrophy, interfascicular fibrosis, and fatty infiltration, (d) significantly less myofilamentous disruption at the ultrastructural level, and (e) a preferential atrophy of type-II fibres (p $<$ 0.001) in the absence of electrical stimulation. There was no statistical difference between the two groups in the compound action potential waveform or amplitude of evoked contractions. In conclusion, these results suggest that the electrical stimulation of skeletal muscle will improve the ultimate functional results in patients undergoing peripheral motor nerve repair.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.22451 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | Durand, Daniel L. (Daniel Lucien) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Division of Surgical Research.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001265137, proquestno: MM74554, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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