The Axon Number of the Rat Sciatic Nerve: A Stereological Study

This study was designed to determine with stereological methods the number of axons in the sciatic nerve as a result of peripheral nerve blockage following injection of lidocaine and prilocaine into hind limb muscle. Nine adult female Sprague-Dawley rats weighted 150-200 g were used in the study. Ketamine was employed intraperitoneal to the rats as 50 mg/kg. The prilocaine and lidocaine were equally (5 mg/ml) injected to the left and right limbs of the 4 rats. As a control group, isotonic sodium chloride (0.9%) was performed as 0.2 ml into the extremities of the remaining 5 rats. When the application completed, surrounding muscles and soft tissues as well as sciatic nerve were dissected as 0.5x1.0 cm length. In order to determine neurotoxic effects of lidocaine and prilocaine on sciatic nerve, the number of axons was computed by unbiased stereological method. Following of the square root transformation, Mann-Whitney U test was performed to compare groups. When the unbiased comparisons were executed to both groups, the effects of lidocaine and prilocaine on sciatic nerve were found statistically non-significant.