Sympathetic Denervation and Reinnervation of Cutaneous Blood Vessels Following Surgery: An Experimental Study on Rats by Means of a Histochemical Fluorescence Method

Abstract

With the histochemical technique of Falck and Hillarp the adrenergically innervated structures of the skin were examined in rats. It was shown that the blood vessels on each side of a single skin incision underwent at least a partial denervation. In double-based or three-sided flaps the vessels became completely denervated up to the bases which showed somewhat varying degrees of denervation. The denervation occurred 18-30 hours after surgery, beginning in the larger vessels. The nerve supply of the muscular arterioles had a normal appearance still 24 hours postoperatively. The ingrowth of new adrenergic nerves began at the margins of a flap 4-8 weeks after surgery. They were gradually growing into the flap together with the somatic nerves. In the standard flaps used, signs of reinnervation of small vessels all over the flap occurred after 12 weeks.