Morphometric analysis of the human femoral nerve and its ageing process

We analysed the sizes of nerve fibres in the human femoral nerve which innervates the quadriceps femoris muscles. The material was taken from 14 cadavers aged from 61 to 97 years. A linear regression analysis disclosed a significant age-related decrease of the mean transverse area of axons. Such decrease with age may be an indication of motoneuron atrophy. Our results could help in the understanding of the correlation between morphology and function during the ageing process.