Mechanism of nerve root stretch injury / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Under physiological conditions, nerve roots can move along with the movement of limbs and spine. However, the mechanisms of nerve root stretch injury under physiological conditions and the neurological dysfunction after injury are unclear. OBJECTIVE:To review the reason of nerve root stretch injury, and to analyze the mechanism of nerve function from biomechanics, pathology and neurophysiology. METHODS:A computer-based online search of PubMed database was undertaken by the first author to identify the articles related to the research of nerve root injury and nerve stretch injury between 1990 and 2012, with the key words of“nerve root, nerve, stretch injury”. A total of 391 articles were screened out. The articles on the anatomy and biomechanics research of nerve root were included, as wel as the pathology and neurophysiology research after nerve root stretch injury. Final y, 44 articles were included for review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Nerve root can be stretched along with limbs and spine movement. However, diseases or trauma may cause pathological nerve root stretch, and thus leading neurological dysfunction. The nerve root is often influenced stretch because of its anatomical and tissue structure. Mechanical injury mechanism of stretch composes of peripheral (peripheral nerve conduction stress) and central mechanism (displacement of spinal cord content). Pathological studies found that the local fibrosis is caused by the extracted serum protein that difficult to remove after injury, and this is because of the shortage of lymphatic system in nerve roots. Fibrosis can cause nerve root ischemia, affect the nerve function, and change the biomechanical properties of nerve root. Nerve root injury can cause primary and secondary injury of internal axons, and this is the main reason for neurological dysfunction after injury.