Cryopreservation of rat peripheral nerve segments later used for transplantation

Segments of the sciatic nerve of adult rats were stored in liquid nitrogen for three weeks before being used to repair transected sciatic nerves of four other adult rats of the same strain. Eight months later the animals that had received the cryopreserved segments were sacrificed and compared with two animals that had received fresh autografts. The muscular innervation by the repaired nerves was evaluated by histological methods and electromyographic recordings. No differences between fresh transplanted grafts and cryopreserved grafts were found. This indicates that cryopreserved mature peripheral nerve segments can be used to repair peripheral nerve damage in the rat.