Biomedical subjects

Davilene Gigo-Benato

Publications and source records attributed to Davilene Gigo-Benato.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Electrical stimulation based on chronaxie reduces atrogin-1 and myoD gene expressions in denervated rat muscle.

Denervation induces muscle fiber atrophy and changes in the gene expression rates of skeletal muscle. Electrical stimulation (ES) is a procedure generally used to treat denervated muscles in humans. This study evaluated the effect of ES based on chronaxie and rheobase on the expression of the myoD and atrogin-1 genes in denervated tibialis anterior (TA) muscle of Wistar rats. Five groups were examined: (1) denervated (D); (2) D+ES; (3) sham denervation; (4) normal (N); and (5) N+ES. Twenty muscle contractions were stimulated every 48 h using surface electrodes. After 28 days, ES significantly decreased the expression of myoD and atrogin-1 in D+ES compared to the D group. However, ES did not prevent muscle-fiber atrophy after denervation. Thus, ES based on chronaxie values and applied to denervated muscles using surface electrodes, as normally used in human rehabilitation, was able to reduce the myoD and atrogin-1 gene expressions, which are related to muscular growth and atrophy, respectively. The results of this study provide new information for the treatment of denervated skeletal muscle using surface ES.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Phototherapy for enhancing peripheral nerve repair: a review of the literature.

Posttraumatic nerve repair continues to be a major challenge of restorative medicine. Although enormous progress has been made in surgical techniques over the past three decades, functional recovery after a severe lesion of a major nerve trunk is often incomplete and sometimes unsatisfactory. It is thus particularly important to investigate clinical protocols to enhance nerve regeneration after surgical nerve repair. The present article reviews literature on one possible rehabilitation approach for enhancing nerve recovery, namely phototherapy. The number of experimental studies that have reported on the promoting action of phototherapy on peripheral nerve regeneration, together with the few known side effects related to the use of this type of physical therapy, make it possible to suggest that the time for broader clinical trials has come.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

On sampling and sampling errors in histomorphometry of peripheral nerve fibers.

Histomorphometrical assessment of regenerated peripheral nerves is a very common goal of many studies in experimental microsurgery. In this paper, the main critical issues in nerve fiber sampling for quantitative morphological assessment are addressed. The equal opportunity rule, i.e., the basic paradigm of random sampling, is described, together with an explanation of how sampling errors, in the selection of histologic fields and of the nerve fibers inside them, can produce a bias in quantitative estimates. Finally, some practical suggestions on how to cope with the most common sampling errors are provided, in order to help researchers obtain reliable histomorphometrical data on peripheral nerve fibers.

Humans↗

PubMed2004

Use of muscle-vein-combined Y-chambers for repair of multiple nerve lesions: experimental results.

Y-shaped vein conduits enriched with fresh skeletal muscle fibers were used to bridge a concomitant ulnar and median nerve transection with substance loss in rats. The proximal limb of the Y-chamber was sutured to the proximal ulnar nerve, while the two distal limbs were sutured to ulnar and median distal nerve stumps. Eight months after surgery, median nerve functional recovery was evaluated by means of the grasping test, and nerve fiber regeneration in both repaired nerves was assessed by means of design-based histomorphometry. Results showed that nerve fibers regenerated along both severed nerve trunks, and in the median nerve led to a recovery corresponding to 58% of normal nerve function. Quantitative analysis showed no significant morphological differences between myelinated nerve fibers regenerated along the two distal nerves except for the number of fibers, which was higher in the median nerve. Notably, the total number of regenerated nerve fibers in the two distal nerves was 4-fold the normal fiber number in the ulnar nerve. Besides their interest in relation to the long-lasting debate about the topographic specificity of nerve regeneration, the results of this study show an effective way to repair, in the rat experimental model, two transected nerve trunks innervating agonistic muscles in the case that the proximal stump of only one nerve is preserved.

Animals↗