Nerve transfer involves the use of a portion of a healthy nerve to repair an injured nerve, and the process has been used to alleviate traumatic brachial plexus injuries in humans. Study of the neural mechanisms that occur during nerve transfer, however, requires the establishment of reliable experimental models. In this study, we developed an ulnar-musculocutaneous nerve-transfer model wherein the biceps muscle of a mouse was re-innervated using a donor ulnar nerve. Similar muscle action potentials were detected in both the end-to-end suture of the transected nerve (correctrepair) group and the ulnar-musculocutaneous nerve-transfer group. Also, re-innervated acetylcholine receptor (AChR) clusters and muscle spindles were observed in both procedures. There were fewer re-innervated AChR clusters in the nerve transfer group than in the correct repair group at 4 weeks, but the numbers were equal at 24 weeks following surgery. Thus, our ulnar-musculocutaneous nerve-transfer model allowed physiological and morphological evaluation for re-innervation process in mice and revealed the delay of this process during nerve transfer procedure. This model will provide great opportunities to study regeneration, re-innervation, and functional recovery induced via nerve transfer procedures.

中文翻译：

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臂丛神经损伤的小鼠神经传递模型的开发。

神经转移涉及使用健康的神经的一部分来修复受伤的神经，该过程已被用于减轻人类的臂丛神经损伤。然而，对神经转移过程中发生的神经机制的研究需要建立可靠的实验模型。在这项研究中，我们开发了尺骨-肌肉皮肤神经传递模型，其中使用供体尺神经将小鼠的二头肌重新神经化。在横断神经（正确修复）组和尺-肌皮神经移植组的端到端缝线中均检测到类似的肌肉动作电位。同样，在两种方法中均观察到了神经支配的乙酰胆碱受体（AChR）簇和肌肉纺锤体。与正确的修复组相比，神经转移组在4周时重新神经支配的AChR簇较少，但是在术后24周时，这些数量相等。因此，我们的尺肌-肌肉皮肤神经传递模型允许对小鼠的再神经支配过程进行生理和形态学评估，并揭示了神经传递过程中该过程的延迟。该模型将为研究通过神经转移程序引起的再生，重新神经支配和功能恢复提供很大的机会。