A MORPHOLOGICAL COMPARISON OF INTERPOSED FREEZE-THAWED SKELETAL-MUSCLE AUTOGRAFTS AND INTERPOSED NERVE AUTOGRAFTS IN THE REPAIR OF THE RAT FACIAL-NERVE

Freeze-thawed co-axially aligned skeletal muscle autografts provide a new concept in peripheral nerve repair, and are being investigated in the repair of mixed motor/sensory nerves. These grafts provide an orie ntated matrix of large basement membrane tubes through which regenerat ing axons can migrate and reinnervate the distal nerve. Using the bucc al branch of the rat facial nerve as a model, we compared five freeze- thawed muscle autografts with five interposed nerve autografts. Some 3 00 days after grafting, the morphology of the distal nerve was evaluat ed. When the two groups were assessed morphometrically, it was found t hat nerve grafts showed a small but significant improvement over muscl e grafts in respect of indices of the fibre maturation.