Visualizing the Regenerated Peripheral Nerve In vivo and In vitro

The morphological changes of regenerated peripheral nerve fibers after injury are closely related with its function recovery. Knowledge of the characteristics of regenerated peripheral nerve on histological level, even that on the molecular level is important for the studies of peripheral nerve regeneration. Here, we present some new methods not only for visualizing the three-dimensional (3D) microstructure and ultrastructure of regenerated nerve fibers in vivo, but also for visualizing the subcellular spatial distribution of mRNA of nerve growth factor (NGF) in living Schwann cells in vitro. The proposed methods should prove to be a valuable tool for investigating the morphological characteristics of regenerated peripheral nerve fibers, as well as the spatio-temporal patterns of gene activity in peripheral nerve injury and regeneration