AUTHOR=Xu Xiao-Dong , Lin Lei , Qiu Yu-Bei , Zeng Bang-Wei , Chen Ye , Liu Jun-Le , Ye Cai-Hong , Wang Jia-Li , Liu Pei-Chang , Zhang Liang-Cheng 

TITLE=Ultrasonic visualization technique for anatomical and functional analyses of the sciatic nerve in rats

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=17

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1187669

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2023.1187669

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background and objective</title><p>Ultrasound has been widely used in the diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment of peripheral nerve diseases in the clinic, but there is still a lack of feasibility analysis in rodent models of neurological disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in the cross-sectional area of the sciatic nerve of different genders and body weights and to explore the effectiveness and reliability of an ultrasound-guided block around the sciatic nerve in living rats.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Using ultrasound imaging anatomy of the sciatic nerve of rats, the cross-sectional area of the sciatic nerve in rats of different genders from 6 to 10 weeks old was calculated, and then analyzed its correlation with body weight. Further analyses were conducted through behavioral and cadaveric studies to evaluate the feasibility of ultrasound-guided perineural injection of the sciatic nerve in rats.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>We first reported that the sciatic nerve cross-sectional area of rats was increased with age (<italic>F</italic> = 89.169, <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001), males had a higher sciatic nerve cross-sectional area than females (<italic>F</italic> = 60.770, <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001), and there was a positive correlation with body weight (<italic>r</italic><sub>Male</sub> = 0.8976, <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001; <italic>r</italic><sub>Female</sub> = 0.7733, <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001). Behavioral observation of rats showed that the lower extremity complete block rate was 80% following the administration of drugs around the sciatic nerve under ultrasound guidance and staining with methylene blue occurred in all sciatic nerves and surrounding muscles and fascia using 20 ultrasound-guided injections.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>Ultrasound visualization technology can be used as a new auxiliary evaluation and intervention therapy for animal models of peripheral nerve injury, and will provide overwhelming new references for the basic research of neurological diseases.</p></sec>