AN EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF PERIPHERAL-NERVE REPAIR IN NORMAL AND DIABETIC RATS

Successful nerve regeneration depends on the type of injury, the metho d of repair and the metabolic status of the animal. A state similar to poorly controlled Type I diabetes mellitus in man was induced and mai ntained in rats using streptozotocin. This provided a model for the st udy of nerve regeneration in diabetes over a period of 150 days. Two m ethods of nerve injury (crust and transection) and three methods of re pair (epineurial suture, nerve autograft and freeze-thawed skeletal mu scle autograft) were compared using electrophysiological and histologi cal methods. The diabetic state did not affect the degree of recovery of nerve conduction velocity after nerve injury. By 150 days, recovery to control values of axon and nerve fibre diameters was not attained. Recovery of axon and fibre diameter was significantly poorer in the d iabetic nerve crush group compared with the non-diabetic nerve crush g roup. It is concluded that his was because of poorer regeneration in d iabetic nerve.