The numbers of unmyelinated and myelinated axons in normal and regenerated rat saphenous nerves

Abstract

Counts have been made of the numbers of unmyelinated and myelinated axons in the proximal and distal stumps of regenerated rat saphenous nerves and from equivalent sites in normal nerves. In the proximal part of normal nerves there were averages of 1 045 myelinated axons and 4 160 unmyelinated ones. Regenerated nerves contained the same number of myelinated axons in their proximal stumps but there was a 40% reduction in the unmyelinated axon count. In the distal stumps of these nerves the myelinated axon count had increased by an average of 620; this comes about because some regenerated myelinated axons support more than one process in the distal stump. In contrast, the number of unmyelinated axons was reduced further, from a mean of 2 476 in the proximal stump to one of 2 219. The sizes of Schwann cell units in the normal and regenerated nerves were also noted. Schwann cell units in the proximal and distal stumps of the regenerated nerves were smaller than those in the normal ones. These changes associated with unmyelinated axons in regenerated nerves are likely to contribute to the sensory, vasomotor and sudomotor abnormalities that sometimes occur after peripheral nerve injury and regeneration.