Campos Stella Andrade Rodrigues, Sanada Luciana Sayuri, Sato Karina Laurenti, Fazan Valéria Paula Sassoli
Department of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro, Praça Manoel Terra 330, 38015-050 Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
J Neurosci Methods. 2008 Feb 15;168(1):8-14. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2007.08.025. Epub 2007 Sep 6.
The rat saphenous nerve contains only somato-sensory fibers and is used in investigations of neuropathic pain and its treatment. Due to its superficial anatomical path, the saphenous nerve is also widely used in electrophysiological studies. Nevertheless, morphologic and morphometric descriptions of the normal saphenous nerve are scanty in the literature and information on useful morphometric parameters of this nerve is still missing. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the longitudinal and lateral symmetry of the saphenous nerve in young rats. Proximal and distal segments of the left and right saphenous nerves from female Wistar rats, aged 30 days (N=5) were morphometrically evaluated and comparisons were made between sides and segments. Our results show that the saphenous nerve is longitudinally and laterally symmetric since there were no morphometric differences between proximal and distal segments, as well as between right and left sides. This lateral symmetry is important in order to validate those experiments in which the contralateral nerve is used as the control. Also, the longitudinal symmetry information is fundamental to further studies involving the "dying back" neuropathy models. The present study adds to the literature new morphometric information on the rat saphenous nerve that might be useful for a better interpretation of further studies involving this nerve and experimental models of nerve diseases.
大鼠隐神经仅包含躯体感觉纤维，常用于神经性疼痛及其治疗的研究。由于其表浅的解剖路径，隐神经也广泛应用于电生理研究。然而，文献中关于正常隐神经的形态学和形态测量学描述较少，且该神经有用的形态测量参数信息仍然缺失。因此，本研究旨在探讨幼龄大鼠隐神经的纵向和横向对称性。对30日龄雌性Wistar大鼠（N = 5）左右隐神经的近端和远端节段进行形态测量评估，并在不同节段和左右侧之间进行比较。我们的结果表明，隐神经在纵向和横向上都是对称的，因为近端和远端节段之间以及左右侧之间在形态测量上没有差异。这种横向对称性对于验证那些将对侧神经用作对照的实验很重要。此外，纵向对称性信息对于进一步涉及“逆行性”神经病变模型的研究至关重要。本研究为文献增添了关于大鼠隐神经的新形态测量信息，这可能有助于更好地解释涉及该神经和神经疾病实验模型的进一步研究。
