Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (24)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Xu, D.
Right arrow Articles by Pollock, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Xu, D.
Right arrow Articles by Pollock, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Brain, Vol. 117, No. 2, 375-384, 1994
© 1994 Oxford University Press

research-article

Experimental nerve thermal injury

Dongsheng Xu and Martin Pollock

Department of Medicine, University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand

Correspondence to: Dr M. Pollock, Department of Medicine, PO Box 913, Dunedin, New Zealand

Thermal injury to rat sciatic nerve was produced by local heating (47 and 58°C) and studied physiologically and morphologically. Unmyelinated nerve fibres showed a greater direct vulnerability to hyperthermia; first manifest as a reversible conduction block of C fibre action potentials and at higher temperatures by immediate and selective axonal degeneration. By contrast, lower grade nerve thermal injury resulted in delayed, selective loss of myelinated fibres. Evidence from this study suggests that this is secondary to a heat-induced angiopathy, immediately and diffusely manifest in the vasa nervorum and giving rise to a progressive and ultimately severe reduction in nerve blood flow. The relative sparing of unmyelinated fibres is likely to be a result of their greater resistance to ischaemia. The pathological vulnerability of unmyelinated fibres to thermal injury, coupled with the susceptibility of large myelinated nerve fibres to secondary ischaemia, largely resolves previous contradictions in the literature.

experimental; nerve; thermal; injury

Received August 4, 1993. Revised October 21, 1993. Accepted November 30, 1993.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J Bone Joint Surg BrHome page
N. Hosono, T. Miwa, Y. Mukai, S. Takenaka, T. Makino, and T. Fuji
Potential risk of thermal damage to cervical nerve roots by a high-speed drill
J Bone Joint Surg Br, November 1, 2009; 91-B(11): 1541 - 1544.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 JBJSHome page
S. H. Goldberg, M. S. Cohen, M. Young, and B. Bradnock
Thermal Tissue Damage Caused by Ultrasonic Cement Removal from the Humerus
J. Bone Joint Surg. Am., March 1, 2005; 87(3): 583 - 591.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am J Sports MedHome page
E. C. McCarty, R. F. Warren, X.-H. Deng, E. V. Craig, and H. Potter
Temperature Along the Axillary Nerve During Radiofrequency-Induced Thermal Capsular Shrinkage
Am. J. Sports Med., June 1, 2004; 32(4): 909 - 914.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck SurgHome page
J. Donzelli, J. P. Leonetti, R. D. Wurster, J. M. Lee, and M. R. I. Young
Neuroprotection Due to Irrigation During Bipolar Cautery
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg, February 1, 2000; 126(2): 149 - 153.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.