Treatment with Continuous High-Intensity Ultrasound on Rat Sciatic Nerve (Sprague Dawley) and Compression Injuries

Currently, the pathologies of spinal nerves are of high incidence. As a way to contribute to morphological grounds the application of therapeutic ultrasound was used in the repair of spinal nerves after a compressive injury. 9 tests were carried out using Sprague Dawley rats which were separated into three groups with 3 rats each: A) healthy control, B) injured control and C) the application of therapeutic ultrasound 1w/cm(2). The rats in groups B and C were anesthetized and sciatic nerve was surgically isolated, which was clamped for 45 seconds with constant force of 40N. Compression was performed on the distal bifurcation 10mm, then disinfected and sutured. 24 hrs after compression, rats in group C were irradiated with a therapeutic ultrasound equipment, using 1w/cm(2) of intensity with frequency of 3 MHz and a head of 0.5 cm(2) for 1 minute, for 10 days. 28 days after irradiation sciatic nerve was removed and subjected to routine histological staining with HE and VG. Histopathological diagnosis was made and morphometry which measured: perineum thickness, perimeter of the nuclei of neurolemocyte cell, perimeter of myelinated axons, perimeter of myelin, the fibroblastocyte core width and length of the fibroblastocyte nucleus. The results show that the continuous mode ultrasound stimulates the regeneration of injured spinal nerve compression.