Dynamics of repair regeneration of rat cutaneous nerves after traumas of different severity.

Studies on 163 mongrels with experimental crush trauma to cutaneous nerves addressed the dynamics of regeneration over a period of 10-50 days post-trauma. Two series of experiments were performed, in which a cutaneous nerve (the saphenous nerve) was crushed with a hemostatic clamp over lengths of 2 and 4 mm, respectively. Destructive processes in the L3 and L4 spinal ganglia, increases in the numbers of myelin fibers in the nerve distal to the trauma site and the rate of growth of the damaged nerve fibers towards the skin after nerve traumas of different lengths, recorded at 10-50 days, were identical in the two series. The rate of myelinization of regenerating fibers after 2-mm crush lesions was greater than that seen after 4-mm crush injuries only in the period up to 30 days post-trauma.