Electrical stimulation of nerve regeneration in the rat: The early effects evaluated by a vibrating probe and electron microscopy

Kerns, James M.; Fakhouri, Anton J.; Weinrib, Harry P.; Freeman, John A.

doi:10.1016/0306-4522(91)90177-p

Cited by 95 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Similar findings were obtained when regenerating nerves were studied longitudinally with a vibrating probe (Kerns et al, 1991). Evidence of staggered regeneration has thus resulted from those studies capable of detecting it.…”

Section: Staggered Regenerationsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…Peripheral nerve regeneration has been manipulated with weak DC currents, pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs), and alternating currents strong enough to discharge the neuron. Weak DC currents orient and direct regeneration in vitro (Hinkle et al, 1981;Patel and Poo, 1982) but produce inconsistent results in vivo (Politis et al, 1988;Kerns et al, 1991Kerns et al, , 1994Kerns and Lucchinetti, 1992). PEMF, attractive because of its noninvasive nature, increases the speed of axon regeneration in the first week by 22-24% (Sisken et al, 1989;Rusovan et al, 1992) but without improving functional outcome (Orgel et al, 1984;Zienowicz et al, 1991).…”

Section: Abstract: Electrical Stimulation; Peripheral Nerve; Anterogmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Electrical Stimulation Promotes Motoneuron Regeneration without Increasing Its Speed or Conditioning the Neuron

Hoffman²,

et al. 2002

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Motoneurons reinnervate the distal stump at variable rates after peripheral nerve transection and suture. In the rat femoral nerve model, reinnervation is already substantial 3 weeks after repair, but is not completed for an additional 7 weeks. However, this "staggered regeneration" can be temporally compressed by application of 20 Hz electrical stimulation to the nerve for 1 hr. The present experiments explore two possible mechanisms for this stimulation effect: (1) synchronization of distal stump reinnervation and (2) enhancement of regeneration speed. The first possibility was investigated by labeling all motoneurons that have crossed the repair at intervals from 4 d to 4 weeks after rat femoral nerve transection and suture. Although many axons did not cross until 3-4 weeks after routine repair, stimulation significantly increased the number crossing at 4 and 7 d, with only a few crossing after 2 weeks. Regeneration speed was studied by radioisotope labeling of transported proteins and by anterograde labeling of regenerating axons, and was not altered by stimulation. Attempts to condition the neuron by stimulating the femoral nerve 1 week before injury were also without effect. Electrical stimulation thus promotes the onset of motor axon regeneration without increasing its speed. This finding suggests a combined approach to improving the outcome of nerve repair, beginning with stimulation to recruit all motoneurons across the repair, followed by other treatments to speed and prolong axonal elongation.

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Section: Staggered Regenerationsupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Abstract: Electrical Stimulation; Peripheral Nerve; Anterogmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrical Stimulation Promotes Motoneuron Regeneration without Increasing Its Speed or Conditioning the Neuron

Hoffman²,

et al. 2002

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“…As refers to intensity, while some authors used a very low current of up to 1.5 mA (Pomeranz et al, 1984;Kerns et al, 1987Kerns et al, , 1991Beveridge and Politis, 1988;Politis et al, 1988a,b;Shen and Zhu, 1995), others used 10 mA (McDevitt et al, 1987;Roman et al, 1987;Pomeranz and Campbell, 1993) or higher (Kerns et al, 1986, with 10 mA/cm 2 ). The electrodes used were made of silver/ silver chloride (Kerns et al, 1987(Kerns et al, , 1991McDevitt et al, 1987;Pomeranz and Campbell, 1993;Shen and Zhu, 1995), stainless steel (Pomeranz et al, 1984;Beveridge and Politis, 1988) or platine (Roman et al, 1987).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Directly applied low intensity direct electric current enhances peripheral nerve regeneration in rats

Mendonça

Barbieri

Mazzer

2003

Journal of Neuroscience Methods

134

105

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The influence of direct electric stimulation on nerve regeneration was studied in a model of crush injury of the sciatic nerve of rats. Forty-three rats were used and distributed in four groups according to the procedure: (1) intact nerve, inactive circuit; (2) crush injury, inactive circuit; (3) intact nerve, active circuit; (4) crush injury, active circuit. The low intensity continuous current circuit (1 mA) was implanted in the lumbar region, the anode being fixed to the muscles proximally and the cathode below the nerve distally to the lesion site. The Sciatic Functional Index (SFI) was evaluated at weekly intervals for 3 weeks, the sciatic nerve being resected on the 21st day for histologic and morphometric studies. The SFI progressively improved and the average fiber nerve density recovered to a nearly normal value in Group 2 and increased in Group 4 compared with the control groups (1 and 3), but this was accompanied by a decreased average fiber nerve diameter. Both number and diameter of inter and intra-fascicular blood vessels increased in the stimulated nerves. We conclude that low intensity direct electric stimulation enhances nerve regeneration following a controlled nerve crush injury and increases blood supply by increasing number and diameter of vasa nervorum. #

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“…Enhanced neurite outgrowth has been attributed to the presence of these surface charges. Furthermore, extensive research both in vitro and in vivo has shown that electromagnetic fields play an important role in neurite extension and regeneration of transected nerve ends (12)(13)(14).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stimulation of neurite outgrowth using an electrically conducting polymer

Schmidt

Shastri

Vacanti

et al. 1997

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

996

800

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Damage to peripheral nerves often cannot be repaired by the juxtaposition of the severed nerve ends. Surgeons have typically used autologous nerve grafts, which have several drawbacks including the need for multiple surgical procedures and loss of function at the donor site. As an alternative, the use of nerve guidance channels to bridge the gap between severed nerve ends is being explored. In this paper, the electrically conductive polymer-oxidized polypyrrole (PP)-has been evaluated for use as a substrate to enhance nerve cell interactions in culture as a first step toward potentially using such polymers to stimulate in vivo nerve regeneration. Image analysis demonstrates that PC-12 cells and primary chicken sciatic nerve explants attached and extended neurites equally well on both PP films and tissue culture polystyrene in the absence of electrical stimulation. In contrast, PC-12 cells interacted poorly with indium tin oxide (ITO), poly(L-lactic acid) (PLA), and poly(lactic acid-coglycolic acid) surfaces. However, PC-12 cells cultured on PP films and subjected to an electrical stimulus through the film showed a significant increase in neurite lengths compared with ones that were not subjected to electrical stimulation through the film and tissue culture polystyrene controls. The median neurite length for PC-12 cells grown on PP and subjected to an electrical stimulus was 18.14 m (n ‫؍‬ 5643) compared with 9.5 m (n ‫؍‬ 4440) for controls. Furthermore, animal implantation studies reveal that PP invokes little adverse tissue response compared with poly(lactic acid-coglycolic acid).

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Electrical stimulation of nerve regeneration in the rat: The early effects evaluated by a vibrating probe and electron microscopy

Cited by 95 publications

References 43 publications

Electrical Stimulation Promotes Motoneuron Regeneration without Increasing Its Speed or Conditioning the Neuron

Electrical Stimulation Promotes Motoneuron Regeneration without Increasing Its Speed or Conditioning the Neuron

Directly applied low intensity direct electric current enhances peripheral nerve regeneration in rats

Stimulation of neurite outgrowth using an electrically conducting polymer

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