Evaluation of myelin sheath and collagen reorganization pattern in a model of peripheral nerve regeneration using an integrated histochemical approach

Abstract

Peripheral nerves are complex histological structures that can be affected by a variety of conditions with different degree of axonal degeneration and demyelination. For the study of peripheral nerve regeneration in pathology and tissue engineering, it is necessary to evaluate the regeneration, remyelination and extracellular matrix reorganization of the neural tissue. Currently, different histochemical techniques must be used in parallel, and a correlation among their findings should be further performed. In this work, we describe a new histochemical method for myelin and collagen fibers based on luxol fast blue and picrosirius methods, for the evaluation of the morphology, the myelin sheath and the collagen fiber reorganization using a model of peripheral nerve regeneration. Whole brain, normal sciatic nerve and regenerating peripheral nerve samples were fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin and paraffin-embedded, for the performance of the hematoxylin-eosin stain, the Luxol fast blue method and the new histochemical method for myelin and collagen. The results of this technique revealed that this new histochemical method allowed us to properly evaluate histological patterns, and simultaneously observe the histochemical reaction for myelin sheath and collagen fibers in normal tissue, and during the regeneration process. In conclusion, this new method combines morphological and histochemical properties that allowed us to determine with high accuracy the degree of remyelination and collagen fibers reorganization. For all these reasons, we hypothesize that this new histochemical method could be useful in pathology and tissue engineering.