Peripheral effects of neural conduction velocity on the femoral cutaneous nerve of New Zealand white rabbits.

Abstract

Acute graded compression can be caused by many factors from chronic acute pressure or a repetitive pressure applied to the nerve. Both are predicted to cause a decrease in the compound nerve action potentials (CNAP’s). The change in compound nerve action potential detects an alpha change in the nerve fiber. This type of injury can occur in multiple different facets from over exertion on the nerve through a blunt force trauma or a repetitive occurrence through exercise. A repetitive force was applied to the posterior femoral cutaneous nerve of New Zealand White Rabbits. The method used was ten seconds of applied pressure followed by thirty seconds where no pressure was applied. This was done with different pressures ranging from 372.25 mmHg through 2,154.29 mmHg. This method consisted of a 12 French 5 cc silicon catheter and a gortex animal stent placed around the rabbit’s posterior femoral cutaneous nerve. The analysis consisted of time to peak, latency, and peak amplitude in reference to the compound nerve action potentials. The investigation focused on a repetitive injury other than a chronic injury and found that there was not a significant change in the time to peak and latency. There was however a significant change in peak amplitude before failure of the balloon portion of the catheter caused inconsistent results.