Split-sciatic Nerve surgery: a new microsurgical model in experimental nerve repair

Sciatic experimental surgery in rat often leads to hindlimb autophagy, with considerable ethical and research issues. In this work, the distal part of the sciatic nerve was split following the natural bifurcation between tibial and peroneal branches, before applying regenerative stem cells in a fibrin conduit on the peroneal segment.The new microsurgical model was tested in terms of animal morbidity and consistency of research outcomes, particularly comparing to the standard total sciatic axotomy procedure.