Collateral reinnervation of rat hindlimb skin does not depend on repeated sensory testing

After cutaneous nerve injury there is a tendency for afferents in neighboring cutaneous nerves to reinnervate the adjacent denervated zone. Diamond and collaborators have recently claimed [5,8] that collateral sprouting of cutaneous afferents in the hindquarter of adult mammals is substantially accelerated by sensory testing (pinching) of the skin. We examined this claim in hindlimb skin of adult rats. All but the most medial part of the foot was rendered anesthetic by ligation and section of the sciatic nerve. The return of mechanosensation by functional spread of the intact saphenous nerve was examined behaviorally. We were unable to detect any effect of repeated sensory testing on the sensory recovery.