• Shusen Cui, Kai Li, Mingzhu Xu, and Wei Yu.
• Department of Hand Surgery, China Japan Union Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, PR China.
• World Neurosurg. 2019 Feb 1; 122: e1365-e1373.

BackgroundPrevious studies have shown that reneurorrhaphy of a distal coaptation at an appropriate time after nerve grafting can upregulate neurotrophins in rat spinal cord neurons. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect this procedure has on peripheral nerve regeneration.MethodsFifteen Wistar rats were randomly assigned to sham-surgery, control, or experimental (transection and rerepair of the distal coaptation of the grafting nerve) groups. The sciatic nerve was evaluated via electromyogram and histology at 20 weeks.ResultsWhen crossing the proximal coaptation of the grafting nerve, the electromyogram and histologic evaluations did not significantly differ between experimental and control groups (P > 0.05). In contrast, crossing the distal coaptation yielded significantly better values (P < 0.05) in the experimental group.ConclusionsThese results indicate that reneurorrhaphy of the distal coaptation at an appropriate time after nerve grafting can improve nerve function and facilitate the regeneration of axons.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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