Morphometric data of normal sural nerve in Thai adults.

ABSTRACT

Morphometry has an important role in the interpretation of sural nerve biopsies. It is used for early detection of structural abnormalities in peripheral neuropathies. This application requires a comparison with data of normal population. However, most data in the literature were of Western subjects with a small number of samples. In this study the authors reported the morphometric data of sural nerve harvested within 24 hours after death from 78 Thai subjects without known causes of neuropathy. The samples were transversely sectioned and analyzed for the number and area of fascicles, the total number of myelinated axons, myelinated fiber diameter; myelinated axon diameter, myelin sheath thickness, g ratio and myelinated axon density. Results were discordant in some measurement parameters compared to previous reports. These data are valuable for the early recognition of peripheral nerve diseases from biopsied sural nerve of Thai subjects.