FIG. 1.

Schematic drawing of the surgical procedures applied in this study. Note the lack of possible reinnervation in groups 1 and 5, as in these animals fast blue (FB) was first applied to the ventral ramus of the C7 spinal nerve (1), and 3 days later the C7 ventral root was avulsed without reimplantation (2). To get access to the ventral root, the C7 dorsal root was transected in every surgical paradigm. The muscle shown in group 3 refers to the spinocervical muscle, and in that case there was also no reinnervation of the originally-innervated muscles (VR, ventral root; DR, dorsal root; DRG, dorsal root ganglion).