Table 1.

Setup of shortwave or microwave diathermy in animal experiments.

Animal model	Intervention	Results	Functional tests	Reference
Nerve division and suture (Wistar rats)	27.12 MHz for 15 min/day, 45 days	Faster wound healing, less scarring and fibrosis	Earlier biphasic nerve potential	Wilson et al. (1974)7
Partial nerve removal and suture (Wistar rats)	27.12 MHz for 15 min/day, 30 days	Fewer adhesions, more regenerating fibers	Earlier biphasic nerve potential	Wilson and Jagadeesh (1976)6
Nerve crush, cut, and suture (Lewis’s rats)	27.12 MHz for 15 min/day, 7 days/week, 8 weeks	Increased myelinated nerve fiber diameter, myelinated axon diameter, epineurium thickness, and luminal CSA of endoneurial vessels	More rapid functional recovery	Raji and Bowden (1983)5
Nerve cut and suture (Lewis rats)	27.12 MHz for 15 min/day, 7 days/week, 8 weeks	Increased nerve fiber number, luminal CSA of intraneural vessels, and epineurium thickness	Earlier functional recovery	Raji (1984)4
Acellular nerve allografts (Wistar rats)	40.68 MHz for 7 min/day, 7 days/week, 12 weeks	Increase in BDNF and VEGF, myelinated nerve fiber number, myelin sheath thickness, and axon diameter	Increased SFI	Pang et al. (2013)10
Acellular nerve allografts (Wistar rats)	40.68 MHz for 7 min/day, 20 times/course, 3 courses	Increase in VEGF, myelinated nerve number, and axon diameter	Increased NCV	Zhang et al. (2008)9
Nerve compression (Sprague-Dawley rats)	915 MHz for 10 min/day, 7 days/week, 12 weeks	Increased expression of S-100 protein, increased number and diameter of myelinated nerve fibers	Increased MNCV and SFI	Zhao et al. (2013)13

Abbreviations: CSA, cross-sectional area; BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; SFI, sciatic function index; NCV, nerve conduction velocity; MNCV, motor nerve conduction velocity.