The Usefulness of Rat Tail Nerve Conduction Study as an Animal Model for Experimental Polyneuropathy - Comparison with Rat Hind Limb Nerve Conduction Study -

J Korean Assoc EMG Electrodiagn Med 1999;1(1):99-104.
Published online January 1, 1999.

Abstract

Objectives : Various animal models have been developed to investigate the electrophysiological nature and pathogenesis of peripheral polyneuropathy or to evaluate the neurotoxicity of certain drugs. Among them the method that permits repeated nerve conduction studies would be the most suitable animal model because it does not sacrifice the animal and reveals serial changes of affected nerves by time sequence. Rat caudal nerve conduction study, which requires complex equipment to keep constant tail temperature, has been infrequently used in contrast to rat hind limb nerve conduction study. We analyzed the results of serial rat hind limb and tail nerve conduction studies with simply keeping the constant skin temperature by external heating lamp. Methods : Seven male Sprague-Dawley rats (200-250g) were underwent motor and sensory nerve conduction studies of the sciatic and caudal nerves, respecrature, every other week for 12 weeks according to the growth of the rats. During the study, skin temperature was maintained 31-33℃ by using a heating lamp. Results : The motor and sensory nerve conduction velocities of both sciatic and caudal nerves increased continuously during first 8weeks, but reached at the plateau or declined slightly after 8weeks. Amplitudes of the compound motor action potential(CMAP) and sensory nerve action potential(SNAP) also increased, but the variations of amplitudes among serial studies are far less in the caudal nerve stimulation than in the sciatic nerve stimulation. Conclusion : The rat caudal nerve conduction study model seems to be a simple and useful method in assessing electrophysiological characters of experimental polyneuropathy.

Key Words: Repeated nerve conduction study, Experimental neuropathy, Hind limb, Tail, Skin temperature