Neural morphological effects of long-term implantation of the self-sizing spiral cuff nerve electrode.

The paper reports on the histological effects of chronic implantation of self-sizing spiral cuff nerve electrodes on the cat sciatic nerve. The implantation period is about 4.4 months. Four different experimental conditions are evaluated: control, sham, bare cuff (cuffs without contacts and leads) and full cuff. The total number of axons in the nerves of the control group is compared with the three other groups. The surface occupied by collagen fibres in the nerve section, perineurium thickness, fibre diameter and myelin thickness are also measured. The average number of axons in the control nerves is found to be 16,416 (+/- 1,509) and does not differ significantly from the three other groups (p > 0.1). Collagen measurements show an extrafascicular epineurial fibrosis in the two implanted groups that is found to be significantly different (p < 0.05). No differences are encountered in the perineurium thickness analysis. Fibre diameter distributions show a regular bimodal pattern for all groups. Centrality (mean and Pm) and dispersion statistics (P25 and P75) extracted from fibre diameter distributions do not reveal significant differences. Myelin thickness distributions are also similar for all groups, as well as centrality and dispersion statistics. The present morphometrical results suggest that the effects produced by a chronic spiral cuff implant on this animal model are negligible.