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Effect of trigeminus nerve on facialis-denervated facial muscle atrophy

Luo Quanfeng, Li Xiue, Gong Zuxun

Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology,Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences,Chinese Academy of Sciences.Shanghai 200031；China

Abstract

In the present study we made out an animal model on rabbit whose trigeminus and facialis nerves were simultaneously or only the latter one was severed. The pathological changes in facial muscle atrophy under different nerve injuries were investigated. The degeneration of contractile proteins of upper lip muscle-myosin and actin was observed. In addition, we also examined the ultrastructural changes in the muscle atrophy in the two above-mentioned nerve injury cases. We observed that the intact trigeminus nerve could delay and lighten the atrophy of facialis-denervated facial muscle and attenuate the degeneration of myosin and actin, as well as decrease the increment of collagen and maintain the ultrastructure of the thick and thin muscle filaments. These results may provide the possibility of improvement of clinical treatment for facial muscle palsy.

Key words: Muscle;Sensory nerve;Denervation;Muscular atrophy

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Citing This Article：

Luo Quanfeng, Li Xiue, Gong Zuxun. Effect of trigeminus nerve on facialis-denervated facial muscle atrophy. Acta Physiol Sin 2002; 54 (2): (in Chinese with English abstract).