Automatic image analysis of the postnatal growth of axons and myelin sheaths in the tibial and peroneal nerves of the rabbit.

The numerous morphometric studies on the myelinated fibers in the peripheral nerves have presented varying results. Only a few studies deal with the peripheral nerves from rabbits. In this work, a morphometric study was carried out on the tibial and peroneal nerves of new-born, 10-, 15-, 20-, 30-, 60-, 90- and 240-day-old rabbits. The bilateral proximal segments of both nerves were investigated. Negatives of semi-thin cross sections were used for myelinated fiber morphometric analysis, carried out by an OLYMPUS Video image analyser. Two morphometric parameters, the average axon diameter (AD) (the average length of Feret's diameters) and the specific width of the myelin sheaths (SWMS) (specifying the total width of the myelin sheath), were evaluated for every age group. In the tibial and peroneal nerves a bimodal distribution of the average AD appeared on the 20th day, and of the SWMS on the 10th day postnatum. A tight correlation was obtained when comparing mean AD (mAD) and mean SWMS (mSWMS) in new-born and 240-day-old rabbits. From birth to adulthood the mAD increased in both nerves by about 270% and the mSWMS by about 280%. The mAD/mSWMS ratio in both new-born and 8-month-old rabbits was found to be 4 in the tibial and 5 in the peroneal nerves. According to the available data, an approach to the measurement of AD as an average length of Feret's diameters and the measurement of the myelin thickness as a SWMS has not yet been employed. An extension of this methodological approach could help to understand the growth and myelinization of peripheral nerve fibers.