Fig. 4.

Drug-conduit and autograft implants confer similar functional recovery from critical-size nerve injuries in rats. Assessment of post-operative functional recovery using walking track analysis. (A) Sciatic functional index (SFI) compares geometric representations of injured hind paws to contralateral uninjured paws, where values are scaled from ~-10 (representing nearly normal function) to ~ -100 (severe injury). Improvements can be seen in test groups from 2 to 8 weeks post-operation, with autograft and drug-conduit groups having nearly identical trends. (B) Paw area reflects the size of the paw print during the stance phase, which decreases after nerve injury. (C) Duration of swing phase where the paw is not in contact with the glass runway, which increases after nerve injury. (D) Duration of the stance phase where the paw is in contact with the glass runway, which decreases after nerve injury. Data in B, C, and D are expressed as percentages: ratios between the ipsilateral (right) hind paw and the contralateral (left) hind paw times 100. All data (n = 4–6 per group per timepoint) are shown as mean ± SEM. * = p < 0.05 vs sham; color indicates test group comparator. Ipsi = ipsilateral; Contra = contralateral. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)