Evaluation of a new method of neural anastomosis using nitrocellulose paper.

Nerve regeneration was examined in 108 mouse sciatic nerves in a prospective morphometric study in which a new anastomotic technique using nitrocellulose paper was compared with conventional suturing and simple sectioning. Mice were randomly allocated to one of the three arms of the trial and sciatic nerves were examined following surgery at time intervals up to 8 weeks. Serial sections were taken for qualitative and quantitative morphometric analyses. Counts demonstrated that the rate of regeneration was faster in the nitrocellulose group than following nerve section alone, but that the suture group was even better. However, 8 weeks after surgery, there were no significant differences in myelinated axon counts 4mm distal to the site of section between any of the experimental groups. The superlative regenerative capacity of rodent axons may limit the applicability of this model to human nerve tissue.