Professor Norman,
Thanks for your explanation of nerve regeneration; you answered all of
my
questions clearly.
My friend fell on a broken tree branch and impaled his fore arm. He is
receiving
excellent care from a hand surgeon at Brigham & Womens Hospital. The injury
was
close to his ulnar nerve but the functions of his fingers is not affected.
He has
numbness in the skin of his fore arm; and they tell him that may or may not
go away.
Your explanation helps us understand what is going on.
And it gives me the necessary information in case I ever have to
perform
emergency nerve surgery!
Bill B.
"Richard S. Norman" <rnorman at umich.edu> wrote in message
news:dte5ru4kesdtfg73ppi0li2bjvplsk5rnf at 4ax.com...
> On Sun, 20 Oct 2002 00:52:02 GMT, "Bill Browning"
> <bbrownin at nospamverizon.net> wrote:
>> >Regeneration of nerves.
> > When a severed hand is reattached, how is the nerve restored? Do
new
> >nerve bodies form and grow new axons? Do the old axons rejoin their
> > segments? Do the proximal parts of the old axons extend along the
> > route of the nerve? How do the new nerves find the right places?
> > Does the sensation starting at the thumb give a sensation associated
> > with the thumb or is it random and the patient learns how it works?
> >Bill B.
>> When a peripheral nerve is severed, the axons degenerate back to the
> cell bodies in the spinal cord (or the dorsal root ganglia, for
> sensory cells). Then the axons regrow back along the old pathways. If
> the cut ends of the nerve are sutured together or are joined in some
> other way, then it is possible for at least some of the growing axons
> to find their way back to their original targets. The cells "know"
> (through chemical signals) just where they "belong" and preferentially
> reform the same functional connections they had originally, if
> possible. However, the axons can innervate the wrong muscles or "get
> lost" along the way.
>> If the original contact is re-established, then the function is simply
> restored. Otherwise, either you relearn or else the function remains
> lost. It is very variable -- sometimes a surprising amount of
> function is regained, sometimes a dissappointing amount is lost.
>> See "peripheral nerve regeneration" on www.google.com, for example.
>