Development of a nerve stretcher for in vivo stretching of nerve fibres

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Author(s)
Sahar, Muhammad Sana Ullah
Mettyas, Tamer
Barton, Matthew
Year published
2019
Metadata
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Axons in vitro respond to mechanical stimulus and can be stretched mechanically to increase their rate of growth. This type of accelerated growth under the influence of tensile forces alone appears independent of chemical cues and growth cones. The stretch-growth of axonal tracts ex vivo and their transient lengthening have been discussed in literature extensively; however; evidence of in vivo investigations is scarce. Stretching axons, although practical ex vivo, is more challenging in vivo due to the difficulties of applying in situ axial tensile forces. Here, a technique has been developed to apply axial tensile forces ...
View more >Axons in vitro respond to mechanical stimulus and can be stretched mechanically to increase their rate of growth. This type of accelerated growth under the influence of tensile forces alone appears independent of chemical cues and growth cones. The stretch-growth of axonal tracts ex vivo and their transient lengthening have been discussed in literature extensively; however; evidence of in vivo investigations is scarce. Stretching axons, although practical ex vivo, is more challenging in vivo due to the difficulties of applying in situ axial tensile forces. Here, a technique has been developed to apply axial tensile forces to a peripheral nerve in vivo. A device has been constructed, called a Nerve Stretcher, which makes use of negative gauge pressure to pull sectioned nerve stumps in a confined nerve prosthesis. This article presents the development of this device and a discussion of the methodology used to hold sciatic nerve stumps in a T-shaped nerve prosthesis. The findings of this study will form the basis of future nerve-stretch growth studies.
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View more >Axons in vitro respond to mechanical stimulus and can be stretched mechanically to increase their rate of growth. This type of accelerated growth under the influence of tensile forces alone appears independent of chemical cues and growth cones. The stretch-growth of axonal tracts ex vivo and their transient lengthening have been discussed in literature extensively; however; evidence of in vivo investigations is scarce. Stretching axons, although practical ex vivo, is more challenging in vivo due to the difficulties of applying in situ axial tensile forces. Here, a technique has been developed to apply axial tensile forces to a peripheral nerve in vivo. A device has been constructed, called a Nerve Stretcher, which makes use of negative gauge pressure to pull sectioned nerve stumps in a confined nerve prosthesis. This article presents the development of this device and a discussion of the methodology used to hold sciatic nerve stumps in a T-shaped nerve prosthesis. The findings of this study will form the basis of future nerve-stretch growth studies.
View less >
Journal Title
Biomedical Physics and Engineering Express
Volume
5
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Institute of Physics Publishing. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Biomedical Engineering
Medical Biotechnology
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
axonal stress
Peripheral nerve