Musculoskeletal Growth, Injury and Repair - Nerves Flashcards
What 2 units make up peripheral nerves?
- Motor unit
- Anterior horn cell (located in grey matter of spinal cord)
- Motor axon
- Innervates muscle fibres (neuromuscular junctions)
- Sensory unit
- Cell bodies in posterior root ganglion, so lie outside spinal cord
Where is the cell body for the motor unit of peripheral nerves?
- Anterior horn cell (located in grey matter of spinal cord)
Where is the cell body for sensory unit of peripheral nerves?
- Cell bodies in posterior root ganglion, so lie outside spinal cord
Explain the ventral and dorsal roots eventually forming peripheral nerves?
1) Nerve fibres joint to form ventral motor roots and dorsal sensory roots
2) These combined to form spinal nerve that exits vertebral column via an intervertebral foramen
What do spinal nerves exits the vertebral column through?
Intervertebral foramen
Describe the structure of peripheral nerves from deep to superficial?
Axons coated with endoneurium, grouped into fascaicles (nerve bundles), covered with perineuriu, grouped to form nerve covered with epineurium
What does nerve fibre diameters range between?
- Nerve fibres range in diameter from 0.3-22um
What forms a thin cytoplasmic tube around nerve fibres of peripheral nerves?
Schwann cells
What are the different fibre types from smallest to largest?
What are the different categories of injuries to peripheral nerves?
Compression
Trauma
When does compression of peripheral nerve occur?
Due to nerve palsies or entrapement
What are some examples of nerve compression due to entrapment?
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Median nerve at wrist
- Sciatica
- Spinal root by intervertebral disc
- Morton’s neurom
- Digital nerve in 2nd or 3rd webspace of forefoot
What are the 3 categories of trauma injuries to peripheral nerves?
-
Neurapraxia
- Nerve in continuity
- Stretched or bruised
- Reversible conduction block due to local ischaemia and demyelination
- Prognosis good
-
Axonotmesis
- Increasing levels of damage to nerve
- Endoneurium intact but disruption of axons in it (more severe than neurapraxia)
- Stretched or crushed
- Wallerian degeneration follows so nerve fibre effectively disappears
- Prognosis is worse than neurapraxia but not terrible as nerve can regenerate since endoneurium intact, sensory recovery better than motor
-
Neurotmesis
- Complete nerve vision
- Due to laceration or avulsion
- No recovery unless repaired by direct suturing or grafting
- Endoneural tubes disrupted so high chance of ‘miswiring’ during regeneration, leading to large neuroma
- Prognosis poor
Describe neurapraxia?
- Nerve in continuity
- Stretched or bruised
- Reversible conduction block due to local ischaemia and demyelination
- Prognosis good
Describe axonotmesis?
- Increasing levels of damage to nerve
- Endoneurium intact but disruption of axons in it (more severe than neurapraxia)
- Stretched or crushed
- Wallerian degeneration follows so nerve fibre effectively disappears
- Prognosis is worse than neurapraxia but not terrible as nerve can regenerate since endoneurium intact, sensory recovery better than motor