Influence of atrophy on the efficiency of muscle reinnervation

The effectiveness of motor reinnervation carried out after an interval of 20 days between nerve transection and reimplantation onto a foreign muscle was studied in the rat. Sixty days after reimplantation the compound action potential, the maximal indirect twitch and tetanic tensions, and weight loss were evaluated. The functional data demonstrated an incomplete recovery which differed from the complete functional restoration observed in an acutely denervated muscle reinnervated with a chronically severed nerve. Time-dependent changes induced in the muscle by denervation seem therefore to influence the efficacy of motor reinnervation.