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A quantitative study of vibration injury to peripheral nerves—introducing a new longitudinal section analysis

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HAND

Abstract

Purpose

Long-term vibrations are known to cause neurovascular diseases, which are common in workers who operate handheld power tools or motor vehicles. Understanding the neuropathology of vibration-induced nerve injury is critical to its prevention and treatment. This study aims to evaluate whether light microscopy of longitudinal nerve sections can be used as a simple yet effective method for quantifying nerve injury.

Methods

The rats were split into two groups that were subjected to vibration (4 h/day) for 7 or 14 days. They were then allowed to rest for varying periods of time. Longitudinal sections of the tail nerves were examined under light microscopy. Injuries to the nerves were classified into three types, counted, tallied, and then divided by the length of the nerve being studied.

Results

Both 7 and 14 days of vibration showed significant damage when no recovery time was given. After 1 month of rest, the 7-day group began to show signs of recovery, but the 14-day group did not. After 2 months of rest, the 7-day vibration group showed almost complete recovery, while the 14-day vibration group still showed significant damage when compared to the sham control groups.

Conclusion

The amount of damage to the myelin sheath directly correlated with vibration duration. When vibrated for longer than 7 days, nerve recovery was limited. This study also demonstrated that light microscopy of longitudinal slices is a simple yet effective method of quantifying the nerve damage.

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Abbreviations

HAVS:

Hand-arm vibration syndrome

WBVS:

Whole body vibration syndrome

NCV:

Nerve conduction velocity

TEM:

Transmission electro-microscopy

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Conflict of Interest

John Davis declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Ziyi Wang declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Lin Ling Zhang declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Michael Agresti declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Hani S. Matloub declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Ji-Geng Yan declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Statement of Human and Animal Rights

All institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed. All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

Statement of Informed Consent

No human subjects were used in this scientific research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plastic Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8700 W Watertown Plank Rd, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA

    John Davis, Ziyi Wang, Lin Ling Zhang, Michael Agresti, Hani S. Matloub & Ji-Geng Yan

Authors
  1. John Davis
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  2. Ziyi Wang
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  3. Lin Ling Zhang
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  4. Michael Agresti
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  5. Hani S. Matloub
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  6. Ji-Geng Yan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ji-Geng Yan.

Additional information

John Davis and Ziyi Wang made equal contributions toward this study.

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Cite this article

Davis, J., Wang, Z., Zhang, L.L. et al. A quantitative study of vibration injury to peripheral nerves—introducing a new longitudinal section analysis. HAND 9, 413–418 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11552-014-9668-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11552-014-9668-0

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