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Abnormal sensory and motor reinnervation of rat muscle spindles following nerve transection and suture

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Summary

Muscle spindles from the lower lumbrical muscles of rats were studied by transmission and scanning electron microscopy following reinnervation (i) after a single sciatic nerve crush lesion and (ii) after transection and immediate epineurial suture of the sciatic nerve. In all muscle spindles, regenerated sensory or motor nerve endings were encountered 3 months after making the lesions although in the nerve-transection group, regenerated nerve endings were seen less frequently before 6 months of recovery. Abnormalities in reinnervated spindles following neurotomy comprised: (1) multiplicity of axonal sprouts (hyperinnervation), sometimes irregularly related to, although never in direct contact with, regenerated sensory nerve endings; (2) altered contact relationships between sensory nerve endings and intrafusal muscle fibers; (3) abnormal structure of nerve endings; and (4) irregular association of Schwann cell processes to regenerated sensory nerve endings. These findings indicate that reinnervation of muscle spindles following transection and suture of a peripheral nerve, i.e., after complete interruption of its continuity, in fact, occurs although the fine structural abnormalities observed are supposed to interfere with adequate functional restoration.

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  1. Institut für Neuropathologie, Klinikum der Rheinisch-Westfälischen Technischen Hochschule, Pauwelsstrasse 30, D-5100, Aachen, Federal Republic of Germany

    R. Dieler & J. M. Schröder

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  1. R. Dieler
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  2. J. M. Schröder
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Supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft: Di 386/1-1

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Dieler, R., Schröder, J.M. Abnormal sensory and motor reinnervation of rat muscle spindles following nerve transection and suture. Acta Neuropathol 80, 163–171 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308920

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308920

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