The objective of this paper was to study acute intraneural microvascular changes in a rat’s ischiatic nerve submitted to smashing with different loads. Sixty male Wistar rats were used and distributed into experimental groups according to vessels injection and smashing load. Right ischiatic nerves were isolated and submitted to smashing with loads (0.5 Kg, 1 Kg, 5 Kg, 10 kg, and 15 kg) for 10 minutes and the left ischiatic nerves served as controls. After smashing, the animals were submitted to catheter implantation on abdominal aorta and vessels injection, then 30 right and left nerves were fixed in 10% formol, dehydrated and diaphanized for longitudinal analysis of intraneural vessels and the remaining being fully removed, cut into three fragments, frozen in isopentane with dry ice and stored in a freezer at -70°C, cross-sectioned for analysis and intraneural vessels counting. Gross and microscopic analyses showed regions of endoneural and epineural hematoma on different smashing loads. The morphometrical analysis suggests that intraneural vessels injury was proportional to the smashing load, causing endoneural and epineural hematoma, which creates an unfavorable micro-environment for nervous fibers regeneration.
Vascularization; Smashing; Ischiatic nerve; Rats Wistar
