DORSAL-ROOT REPAIR BY MEANS OF AN AUTOLOGOUS NERVE GRAFT - EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY IN THE RAT

Rat dorsal root regeneration was studied after 6th and 7th cervical ro ot surgical removal and replacement with an autologous graft of periph eral nerve harvested from the surval nerve from dorsal root ganglion t o dorsal horn. Histological studies showed axonal regeneration within the grafts. When the distal end of the graft was placed inside the pos terior horn of the spinal cord by use of a myelotomy, axonal sprouts ( revealed by the transganglionic staining method of horseradish peroxid ase or HSP) reached the neurones of the posterior horn in a limited fa shion.