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Nerve strain correlates with structural changes quantified by fourier analysis
Author(s) -
Love James M.,
Chuang TingHsien,
Lieber Richard L.,
Shah Sameer B.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
muscle and nerve
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1097-4598
pISSN - 0148-639X
DOI - 10.1002/mus.23809
Subject(s) - strain (injury) , sciatic nerve , anatomy , myelin , waviness , fourier transform , neuroscience , biology , biomedical engineering , materials science , central nervous system , medicine , mathematics , mathematical analysis , composite material
: Nerve deformation affects physiological function. Bands of Fontana are an optical manifestation of axonal undulations and may provide a structural indicator of nerve strain. Methods : We developed an automated Fourier‐based image processing method to quantify the periodicity of bands of Fontana both in bright field images and in axonal undulations in immunolabeled longitudinal sections. Results : We found a strong linear relationship between applied strain and the frequency of bands of Fontana in rat sciatic nerves (−0.0056 μm − ⋅% − , r 2 = 0.829; P < 0.05). This relationship agreed with the observed trend between strain and axonal waviness, calculated from longitudinal sections of sciatic nerves immunolabeled against myelin basic protein. Conclusions : This accurate and objective approach has potential to increase our understanding of structure–function relationships in the nervous system and to guide preservation and enhancement of neural function. Muscle Nerve 48 : 433–435, 2013