Histochemically-aided microscurgical repair of injured human peripheral nerves

摘要

While pursuing histochemical enzyme markers for skeletal muscle atrophy in spaceflown rats, it was determined that sensory and skeletomotor myelinated axons were differentially stained i.e., carbonic anhydrase activity marked sensory axons and cholinesterase labeled motor axons. Subsequent studies in rabbits and humans showed that motor and sensory axons could be differentiated in the proximal and distal nerve stumps immediately following transection injury.