[The technic of "sensorimotor" differentiated fascicular suture of peripheral nerves]

A method for the differentiation of motor and sensory nerve fibres of mixed peripheral nerves is presented. This method is based on the different content of acetylcholinesterase in motor and sensory nerve axons. The median and ulnar nerves of 13 human cadavers were biopsied at the wrist within three hours post mortem. All specimens were stained after the method of KARNOVSKY. The axons of the motor nerve fibres with their high content of acetylcholinesterase thus were marked. In all the examined ulnar nerves the motor fibres were found in the ulnar part. They were different in size and figure. In the median nerves only 1 to 3 motor fascicles were found, which are localized in the palmar and radial section of the nerve. These motor fibres represent only a little part of the whole cross section of the median nerve. As a consequence of this method of differentiation between motor and sensory fibres the surgery of peripheral mixed nerves may be influenced.