Related Experiment Videos
Problems with the use of the toe-spreading reflex in rats as an assay in nerve regeneration studies
1Department of Physiology, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Neuroscience Letters
|October 5, 1987
Abstract:
Stages in the return of the toe-spreading reflex after sciatic nerve injury were examined using the rat. It was found that the earliest stages in the return of the reflex do not indicate nerve regeneration, but rather reflect the development of adrenalin sensitivity in denervated muscles. Probably systemic adrenalin released during the reflex-testing procedure causes muscle contractions which imitate a nerve-induced toe-spread reflex.