Use of muscle fibrillation for tracking nerve regeneration

[Guest guest]

Muscle Nerve. 2005 Feb;31(2):235-41.

Use of muscle fibrillation for tracking nerve regeneration.

Heaton JT, Kobler JB.

Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, One Bowdoin

Square, 11th Floor, Boston, MA 02114, USA.

Individual muscle fibers in denervated muscle demonstrate repetitive,

spontaneous contraction. Such fibrillation activity disappears in

denervated muscle if reinnervation occurs, but this relationship has

not been formally studied. To test whether the disappearance of

fibrillation can be used to track nerve regeneration, we quantified

the presence and subsequent disappearance of electromyographic (EMG)

fibrillation potentials and fibrillation-related movement in the rat

tongue after unilateral hypoglossal nerve crush at two locations. In

mice, fibrillation movement of vibrissae were monitored after

unilateral facial nerve crush and compared with the return of

symmetrical vibrissae sweeping movements. In both of these rodent

cranial motor systems, there was a conspicuous loss of fibrillation

at a time when reinnervation is known to take place, suggesting that

the visual appearance of fibrillation-related movement can be used as

a simple, noninvasive means of tracking nerve regeneration in these

popular experimental motor systems.