Reconstruction of severed dorsal roots innervating the urinary bladder. An experimental study in cats. II. Regeneration studies.

Abstract

In an experimental study on 12 adult female cats, the dorsal sacral roots mediating the afferent inflow of the pelvic and pudendal nerves were transected. In 4 animals, the S1 dorsal roots transected immediately distally to their ganglia were anastomosed with tubulation technique to the peripheral part of the transected S2 radicular nerves. In 5 animsals anastomoses were performed between the L7 dorsal roots and the S1 radicular nerves, thus creating a non-physiological afferent pathway to the urinary bladder. In 3 control animals all sacral dorsal roots were transected but no anastomoses were performed. The functional restitution of afferent fibers was assessed by the return of the micturition reflex and storage reflexes. The micturition reflex returned in the cystometrograms of 5 of 9 animlals with reconstructed dorsal roots after regeneration periods ranging between 8 and 11 months. The storage reflexes were present in approximately half of the animals with root anastomoses tested in final experiments ...