INSTRUMENTED FORCEPS FOR MEASUREMENT OF NERVE COMPRESSION FORCES

Compression (or crushing) is used to induce nerve injury in test rats to study nerve degeneration and regeneration. The compression forces c ould be applied using a variety of techniques developed by several inv estigators. The lack of precise control of the applied compression may be the source of significant variations among observations. In this s tudy, a Mosquito and dressing forceps were used. The Mosquito forceps was calibrated to determine the tip load corresponding to the clamping position. The dressing forceps was modified, instrumented with strain gauges and calibrated to directly measure the force applied at its ti p. These two forceps were used to induce known and controlled nerve co mpression in 75 male Wistar rats (280-300g). The applied forces were o f the order of 40N and 20N, for the Mosquito and dressing forceps, res pectively.