N. Stankovic et al., OCCURRENCE OF EPIDERMAL NERVE-ENDINGS IN GLABROUS AND HAIRY SKIN OF THE RAT FOOT AFTER SCIATIC-NERVE REGENERATION, Cell and tissue research, 284(1), 1996, pp. 161-166
The occurrence and distribution of intraepidermal nerve endings in hai
ry and glabrous skin of the rat foot was examined in normal cases and
three months after sciatic neurotomy/suture or a crush lesion. The ner
ve endings were visualized in cryostate sections with antibodies again
st protein gene product 9.5. Normal glabrous skin exhibited 23.3 endin
gs/mm length. Neurotomy/suture cases had 6.1 endings/mm. In rats with
nerve crush injury the occurrence was normal, but the intraepidermal n
erve endings tended to be abnormally short and occurred mainly in the
basal layer of the epidermis. In sections from hairy skin countings we
re not possible. Subjective evaluation indicated that the occurrence o
f dermal and epidermal axon profiles usually was very deficient after
neurotomy/suture and essentially normal after crush. Skin samples from
the contralateral side of operated animals showed a normal occurrence
and distribution of nerve endings. We also noted that cases subjected
to neurotomy/suture showed increased numbers of protein gene product
9.5-immunoreactive intraepidermal cells and an abnormally thin epiderm
is. We suggest that a highly deficient occurrence of intraepidermal ne
rve endings may be one factor behind the unsatisfactory restitution of
the sensory function of the hand typically seen in patients subjected
to neurotomy and suture.