Figure 9.

Gastrocnemius muscle histology and analysis results. Histology observation of gastrocnemius muscle by cross-sectional HE staining (A-D) and quantitative analysis of bilateral gastrocnemius muscle weight ratio (E). A, autograft group; B, collagen/PCL NCs group; C, non-grafted group; D, unoperated muscle in normal nerve group. Compared to normal muscle morphology (D), gastrocnemius muscles suffering from degeneration presented with smaller muscle cell sectional area, more fibrous connective tissues and blood vessels. In autograft group(A) and collagen/PCL NCs group (B), muscle atrophy after nerve injury was rescued to a great extent while muscles in non-grafted group (C) heavily degenerated. Quantitative analysis of left (experimental side)/right (unoperated side) muscle weight ratio showed similar tendency of atrophy changes. The muscle weight ratio of animals in normal nerve group was defined as 1. *p < 0.05 versus non-grafted group. No significant difference found between autograft group and collagen/PCL NCs group (p > 0.05).