Axonal and extracellular matrix responses to experimental chronic nerve entrapment

We have analyzed the ultrastructural and histopathological changes that occur during experimental chronic nerve entrapment, as well as the immunohistochemical expression of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSPG). Adult hamsters (n = 30) were anesthetized and received a cuff around the right sciatic nerve. Animals survived for varying times (5 to 15 weeks) being thereafter perfused transcardially with fixative solutions either for immunohistochemical or electron microscopic procedures. Experimental nerves were dissected based upon the site of compression (proximal, entrapment and distal). CSPG overexpression was detected in the compressed nerve segment and associated with an increase in perineurial and endoneurial cells. Ultrastructural changes and data from semithin sections were analyzed both in control and compressed nerves. We have observed endoneurial edema, perineurial and endoneurial thickening, and whorled cell-sparse pathological structures (Renaut bodies) in the compressed nerves. Morphometrical analyses of myelinated axons at the compression sites revealed: (a) a reduction both in axon sectional area (up to 30%) and in myelin sectional area (up to 80%); (b) an increase in number of small axons (up to 60%) comparatively to the control group. Distal segment of compressed nerves presented: (a) a reduction in axon sectional area (up to 60%) and in myelin sectional area (up to 90%); (b) a decrease in axon number (up to 40%) comparatively to the control data. In conclusion, we have shown that nerve entrapment is associated with a local intraneural increase in CSPG expression, segmental demyelination, perineurial and endoneurial fibrosis, and other histopathological findings.