Peripheral nerve transfers change target muscle structure and function
File(s)eaau2956.full.pdf (1.27 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Selective nerve transfers surgically rewire motor neurons and are used in extremity reconstruction to restore muscle function or to facilitate intuitive prosthetic control. We investigated the neurophysiological effects of rewiring motor axons originating from spinal motor neuron pools into target muscles with lower innervation ratio in a rat model. Following reinnervation, the target muscle's force regenerated almost completely, with the motor unit population increasing to 116% in functional and 172% in histological assessments with subsequently smaller muscle units. Muscle fiber type populations transformed into the donor nerve's original muscles. We thus demonstrate that axons of alternative spinal origin can hyper-reinnervate target muscles without loss of muscle force regeneration, but with a donor-specific shift in muscle fiber type. These results explain the excellent clinical outcomes following nerve transfers in neuromuscular reconstruction. They indicate that reinnervated muscles can provide an accurate bioscreen to display neural information of lost body parts for high-fidelity prosthetic control.
Date Issued
2019-01-02
Date Acceptance
2018-11-26
Citation
Science Advances, 2019, 5 (1), pp.1-9
ISSN
2375-2548
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Start Page
1
End Page
9
Journal / Book Title
Science Advances
Volume
5
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30613770
PII: aau2956
Subjects
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
SELECTIVE MOTOR HYPERREINNERVATION
CONDUCTION-VELOCITY
BRACHIAL-PLEXUS
REINNERVATION
SURFACE
INJURY
AMPUTATION
AVULSION
NEUROMA
MODEL
Animals
Axons
Forelimb
Male
Models, Animal
Motor Neurons
Muscle Contraction
Muscle Fibers, Skeletal
Nerve Regeneration
Nerve Transfer
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Reconstructive Surgical Procedures
Treatment Outcome
Ulnar Nerve
Axons
Motor Neurons
Ulnar Nerve
Forelimb
Animals
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Treatment Outcome
Nerve Transfer
Reconstructive Surgical Procedures
Models, Animal
Nerve Regeneration
Muscle Contraction
Male
Muscle Fibers, Skeletal
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Article Number
eaau2956
Date Publish Online
2019-01-02