Animal model of nerve / axonal regeneration

Newsletter # 36



Animal models

Sciatic nerve crush injury in the mouse is a widely used model for peripheral nerve regeneration. It serves to study underlying cellular and molecular events in nerve injury, and to evaluate the therapeutic intervention that might boost axonal regeneration.

In order to acquire the full spectrum of recovery, NEUROFIT monitors both gait and nerve function together with their axon morphology correlates. This model has been tailored for compound testing.



  • Electromyography measure:

    Time course of loss and recovery in Compound Muscle Action Potential (CMAP) following sciatic nerve crush.



  • Gait analysis (weight bearing):

    Nerve lesion-induced asymmetric weight bearing followed by progressive normalization of weight distribution.



  • Nerve morphometry
    (axon profile distribution)

    Four weeks after the lesion, the axons with a diameter ≥ 2.5 µm are not yet fully regenerated in the lesioned nerve.


  • Nerve morphometry
    (g-ratio: myelin thickness)

    Four weeks after the lesion, the axons with a diameter ≥ 2.5 µm in the lesioned nerve show a thinner myelin sheath* than those in sham nerve specimen. (*, greater the g-ratio, thinner the myelin sheath thickness is)


  • A schematic illustration to measure the imbalance of weight distribution in a freely moving animal.


NEUROFIT offers a range of validated in vitro and in vivo screening tests for psychiatry and neurology.

If you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact us, we will reply within few days. Custom protocol

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