Surgical Procedures Required for Measurement Reduce Nerve Conduction Velocity: An In Vivo and In Vitro Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: Although in vitro methods have disadvantages, they are still commonly used to measure nerve conduction velocity (NCV) in experimental studies. Therefore, this study was designed to demonstrate the effect of the surgical procedures required for in vitro methods on nerve fibers and the effect of in vivo and in vitro methods on the results of electrophysiological measurements.

Methods: Rats were assigned to the in vivo (control-1, injury-1, and diabetic-1) and in vitro (control-2, injury-2, and diabetic-2) groups. The NCV and compound action potential amplitudes were measured, and the nerve fibers were histologically examined.

Results: Damaged axons and myelin sheaths were observed in the control-2 group. The electrophysiological values of the in vitro groups were lower than those of the in vivo groups. Furthermore, these values were lower for the diabetic and injury groups than for the control groups.

Conclusions: This study showed that the surgical procedures required for the in vitro method reduced the measured values. Owing to the previous and current disadvantages of the in vitro method, the in vivo method was more sensitive for the NCV measurement. Moreover, measurements can be performed using the current in vivo method for small nerve fibers.

Keywords:

• Injury
• in vitro
• in vivo
• nerve conduction velocity
• surgical procedures

Data availability statement

Data available on request from the corresponding author.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval statement

All applications in this study were performed according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) guidelines and approved by the local ethical committee on animal care (approval date: February 8, 2021; approval number: 2021.02.04). All mandatory laboratory health and safety procedures were complied with during the experimental procedures.

Funding

No funds, grants, or other support was received.

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