Vascularized versus Free Nerve Grafts: An Experimental Study on Rats.

This experimental model showed slight differences in nerve regeneration between VNGs and FNGs, but cannot support a high clinical advantage for VNGs. The results of this study show that VNGs are not strongly superior to FNGs in the rat model, even in avascular beds. Clinical advantages of VNGs are likely to be limited to extensive and thick nerve defects and can only be assessed on experimental model with bigger animals. Also, we showed that the MUNE technique provided a reliable and reproducible evaluation of functional outcomes in the rat sciatic nerve and defined a reproducible protocol for functional evaluation of muscle reinnervation.