Experimental study of vascularized muscle: multifactorial analysis of muscle regeneration following denervation

An experimental study on regeneration of vascularized muscles after denervation was carried out on a total of 73 adult rat gastrocnemius muscles. A vascularized muscle graft harvested from the gluteal region was transplanted orthotopically with its vascular pedicle. A transected motor nerve of the graft was sutured under the operating microscope. The rats were sacrificed at intervals throughout 12 postoperative months, and biopsied muscles were processed for histologic, immunohistochemical, and composing protein analysis studies. After degeneration of the originally transplanted muscle fibers, regenerating cells such as myoblasts and myotubes developed into mature muscle fibers up to week 8 after surgery. These results suggest that in the regenerating mechanism of vascularized muscle grafts, there are both degenerating and regenerating processes in the transplanted muscles.