Quantitative study of muscle fibre atrophy and restitution after nerve grafts

Our comparative experimental studies on rabbits using clinical, electromyographical, and quantitative histological examinations of long autologous and homologous nerve grafts in 35 rabbits, paying special attention to quantitative histological changes in the gastrocnemius muscles, allow the statement that, compared to the short holografts, the long homografts showed worse results. Moreover, it became obvious that the regeneration rate of autografts was not influenced by increasing the lengths of the grafts. The answer to the question of how far even longer grafts may influence the quality of regeneration will need further investigations.