Department of Surgery, Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Department of Clinical Neurosciences and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Exp Neurol. 2017 Jan;287(Pt 3):348-357. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2016.04.011. Epub 2016 Apr 17.
Traumatic peripheral nerve injuries are common and often result in partial or permanent paralysis, numbness of the affected limb, and debilitating neuropathic pain. Experimental animal models of nerve injury have utilized a diversity of outcome measures to examine functional recovery following injury. Four primary categories of outcome measures of regenerative success including retrograde labeling with counts of regenerating neurons, immunohistochemistry and histomorphometry, reinnervation of target muscles, and behavioral analysis of recovery will be reviewed. Validity of different outcome measures are discussed in context of hindlimb, forelimb, and facial nerve injury models. Severity of nerve injury will be highlighted, and comparisons between nerve crush injury and more severe transection and neuroma-in-continuity nerve injury paradigms will be evaluated. The case is made that specific outcome measures may be more sensitive to assessing functional recovery following nerve injury than others. This will be discussed in the context of the lack of association between certain outcome measures of nerve regeneration. Examples of inaccurate conclusions from specific outcome measures will also be considered. Overall, researchers must therefore take care to select appropriate outcome measures for animal nerve injury studies dependant on the specific experimental interventions and scientific questions addressed.
外伤性周围神经损伤很常见，常导致部分或永久性瘫痪、受累肢体麻木和使人衰弱的神经病理性疼痛。神经损伤的实验动物模型利用了多种结局测量指标来检查损伤后的功能恢复情况。将回顾再生成功的 4 种主要结局测量指标，包括逆行标记再生神经元的数量、免疫组织化学和组织形态计量学、靶肌肉的再神经支配以及恢复的行为分析。将根据后肢、前肢和面神经损伤模型讨论不同结局测量指标的有效性。将突出强调神经损伤的严重程度，并评估神经挤压伤与更严重的横断和神经瘤内连续神经损伤范例之间的比较。有理由认为，某些特定的结局测量指标可能比其他指标更能敏感地评估神经损伤后的功能恢复情况。这将在神经再生的某些结局测量指标之间缺乏关联的背景下进行讨论。还将考虑特定结局测量指标得出不准确结论的例子。总体而言，研究人员因此必须注意根据特定的实验干预措施和要解决的科学问题，为动物神经损伤研究选择适当的结局测量指标。
