[Experimental studies of specific neuro-chemotaxis in peripheral nerve regeneration in the rat]

In this paper are reported the results of a systematic study of chemotactic effect and other features of the regeneration of severed peripheral nerve in rat. The results revealed that (1) the proximal stumps of tibial and peroneal nerves tended to grow to their original distal stumps, (2) motor branch and sensory branch also showed preferential growth to the homojunctional patterns of nerve grafts, (3) using muscle and skin as targets, these not only attracted nerve growth, out also selectively attracted motor branch and sensory branch. Our results indicate that during rat peripheral nerve regeneration there exists neurotropism as evidenced by tissue specificity, topographic specificity, functional pattern specificity and target specificity. Based on these findings, the possible mechanism of neurochemotropism is discussed. Distance between the stumps, selective use of experimental chamber material and the clinical significance of this neurotropic research are also discussed.