[Reestablishment of sensory function after greater auricular nerve implanted into flap for reconstruction of buccal...

To assess the sensory restoration after the greater auricular nerve is implanted into the flap to repair the buccal defect in rabbits.

Fifteen Japanese white rabbits, weighing 2.0-2.5 kg, were randomly divided into the experimental group (nerve implanted), the control group (nerve unimplanted), and the normal group (without any treatment). In the experimental and the control group, circular defects (2.0 cm x 2.0 cm) were constructed in the left cheek of the rabbits. Then, the cervical flaps (4.5 cm x 2.5 cm) were transferred and the great auricular nerve was implanted into the defects in the experimental group, and the flaps without any nerve were implanted into the defects in the control group. The subjects in the normal group were given no treatment. After 6 months, the nerve discharge, the HE staining, and the immunohistochemical method were used to assess the regeneration of the nerve fibers.

The nerve discharge and the percentage of the different kinds of the nerve fibers in the experimental group (124.2 +/- 33.8 roots) were not statistically different from those in the normal group (138.4+/-20.4 roots, P>0.05), but significantly different from those in the control group (18.8+/-5.6 roots, P<0.05). In the center of the flap in the experimental group, the receptive field of the nerve fibers was identical to the implanting approach of the greater auricular nerve. The HE staining and the immunohistochemical staining showed that the density of the regenerated fibers in the center of the flap in the experimental group reached the normal level. There was no regenerated fibers in the control group.

The great auricular nerve implanted into the cervical flaps has a good effect on reconstruction of the buccal defect in rabbits.