Comparison of muscle mass preservation in denervated muscle and transplanted muscle flaps after motor and sensory reinnervation and neurotization

• Published in: Plastic and reconstructive surgery (1963) Vol. 99; no. 3; p. 803
• Main Authors: Zhang, F, Lineaweaver, W C, Ustüner, T, Kao, S D, Tonken, H P, Campagna-Pinto, D, Buncke, H J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.03.1997
• Subjects: Animals; Femoral Nerve - surgery; Muscle Denervation; Muscle, Skeletal - innervation; Muscle, Skeletal - pathology; Muscle, Skeletal - surgery; Nerve Transfer; Obturator Nerve - surgery; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Surgical Flaps - innervation; Surgical Flaps - methods; Surgical Flaps - pathology
• ISSN: 0032-1052; 1529-4242
• DOI: 10.1097/00006534-199703000-00029

The gracilis muscle model was used either as a denervated muscle in situ or as a transplanted flap in 273 rats to compare the trophic effects of muscle reinnervation and neurotization using sensory and motor nerves. The average gracilis muscle flap weighed 626 +/- 94 mg at the time of the initial procedure. Experimental muscles were examined 6 months following the procedure. In denervated, nontransplanted muscles, both motor nerve reinnervation and neurotization resulted in significantly preserved muscle mass, averaging 570 +/- 69 and 521 +/- 116 mg, respectively, compared with the denervated control average of 178 +/- 22 mg (p < 0.05). Sensory nerve reinnervation and neurotization produced much smaller trophic effects (p > 0.05). In transplanted gracilis free flaps, however, only direct reinnervation with motor or sensory nerves resulted in improved bulk preservation, with average weights of 313 +/- 83 and 327 +/- 91 mg compared with the control average of 201 +/- 76 mg (p < 0.05). Neither sensory nor motor neurotization was significantly effective in the free-flap model (p > 0.05). These data suggest that transplantation may alter the response of muscle to reinnervation.