Fasciculation of the motor axons in the medial and lateral roots of the human median nerve
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 1997 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Scripta medica |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Neurology, neurosurgery, neurosciences |
| Keywords | Image analysis; Non-specific cholinesterase; Peripheral nerve |
| Description | An improvement of reconstructive operations of the brachial plexus requires knowledge of motor and somatosensory axon fasciculation in the proximal parts of peripheral nerves. In the present paper we describe a fasciculation of the motor axons in the lateral and medial roots of the human median nerve. The lateral and medial roots including a short segment of the median nerve were removed from a cadaver (a woman of the age of 38 years) 6 hours post mortem and fixed in Zamboni's fixative solution. The roots were divided into seven 1 cm long segments in a proximal-to-distal direction (segments 1-7). A segment of the median nerve close to its joint from the roots was examined, too. The motor axon detection was based on their high acetylcholinesterase activity content determined by the histochemical method. The motor axon distribution was observed in a light microscope and evaluated by means of an image analysis system equipped with a CCD camera and a computer equipped with VideoTip 2.0 software (Tescan, Brno, Czech Republic). The human lateral and medial roots of the median nerve are polyfascicular with a monofascicular segment. The lateral root contained a monofascicular segment about 1 to 2 cm from the joint with the medial root. A similar monofascicular segment was found immediately close to the joint of roots. The monofascicular segments containing dispersed motor nerve fibres are very suitable points for reconnections during microsurgical reconstruction oft he brachial plexus. Analysis of the first proximal segment in the median nerve revealed that the dominant motor contribution was from the lateral root. |
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