Daily Facial Stimulation to Improve Recovery After Facial Nerve Repair in Rats

摘要

Objective: To establish whether daily mechanical stimulation improves functional recovery of whisking after facial nerve transection injury and repair in rats.Methods: Forty rats underwent facial nerve transection injury and repair and subsequent quantitative facial movement testing. Animals were randomized into 2 experimental groups (n = 20 each). Both groups received daily 5-minute manual stimulation of their whiskers, with one group undergoing whisker protraction and the other, whisker retraction. Rats were tested on postoperative weeks 1, 4 through 8, and 15 via a validated, quantitative whisking kinematics apparatus. Whisks were counted and analyzed for whisking amplitude, velocity, and acceleration.