Electrical stimulation of paralyzed vibrissal muscles reduces endplate reinnervation and does not promote motor recovery after facial nerve repair in rats

The outcome of peripheral nerve injuries requiring surgical repair is poor. Recent work has suggested that electrical stimulation (ES) of denervated muscles could be beneficial. Here we tested whether ES has a positive influence on functional recovery after injury and surgical repair of the facial n...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of anatomy 2009-01, Vol.191 (4), p.356-370
Main Authors: Sinis, Nektarios, Horn, Frauke, Genchev, Borislav, Skouras, Emmanouil, Merkel, Daniel, Angelova, Srebrina K., Kaidoglou, Katerina, Michael, Joern, Pavlov, Stoyan, Igelmund, Peter, Schaller, Hans-Eberhard, Irintchev, Andrey, Dunlop, Sarah A., Angelov, Doychin N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Axonal regrowth
Axons - physiology
Axotomy
Electric Stimulation
Electrodes
Facial muscles
Facial Nerve - physiology
Facial Nerve - physiopathology
Facial Nerve Injuries - therapy
Female
Motor Endplate - physiology
Muscle Denervation - methods
Nerve injury
Nerve Regeneration - physiology
Neurons - physiology
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Vibrissae - innervation
Vibrissae - physiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The outcome of peripheral nerve injuries requiring surgical repair is poor. Recent work has suggested that electrical stimulation (ES) of denervated muscles could be beneficial. Here we tested whether ES has a positive influence on functional recovery after injury and surgical repair of the facial nerve. Outcomes at 2 months were compared to animals receiving sham stimulation (SS). Starting on the first day after end-to-end suture (facial–facial anastomosis), electrical stimulation (square 0.1 ms pulses at 5 Hz at an ex tempore established threshold amplitude of between 3.0 and 5.0 V) was delivered to the vibrissal muscles for 5 min a day, 3 times a week. Restoration of vibrissal motor performance following ES or SS was evaluated using the video-based motion analysis and correlated with the degree of collateral axonal branching at the lesion site, the number of motor endplates in the target musculature and the quality of their reinnervation, i.e. the degree of mono- versus poly-innervation. Neither protocol reduced collateral branching. ES did not improve functional outcome, but rather reduced the number of innervated motor endplates to approximately one-fifth of normal values and failed to reduce the proportion of poly-innervated motor endplates. We conclude that ES is not beneficial for recovery of whisker function after facial nerve repair in rats.
ISSN:0940-9602
1618-0402
DOI:10.1016/j.aanat.2009.03.004