Brown, A. G.

2018-03-29T12:20:54Z

2018-03-29T12:20:54Z

1963

"There is still no published case in which the condition of the end organ in the skin has been thoroughly correlated with functional recovery. It is therefore not yet possible to say how far the excess of innervation and abnormal shapes of the endings are responsible for the aberrations of sensations which are observed. There is every reason to think that the correlations will be found,tó beclose,'though..the imperfect maturation of the nerve trunks may be equally important in producing these aberrations .In fact the whole process of normalisation of structure and function in the skin during recovery is well worth further study." (J. Z. Young 1942).

In spite of the widespread use of electrophysiological techniques for recording from peripheral nerve fibres, and the great increase in knowledge of the innervation of normal skin since the above was written, Guth was still able to say in 1956, "There are no major differences from the processes previously described." An attempt will be made in the present essay to correlate the well documented findings in the field with some recent experiments and to try to fill in in part, the gap in knowledge referred to above. Needless to say more questions will be posed than answered.

The very nature of the work results in it being mainly descriptive, in answer to the question, "What happen' to sense organs and sensory fibres after injury to the afferent nerve?" Until this question is answered fully it is perhaps unwise to ask the next one of "How do the changes observed come about?" Tentative answers will, however, be suggested, though this part of the essay, will,of necessity, be highly conjectural.

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/29420

The University of Edinburgh

Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2018 Block 17

Changes occuring in sensory structures after denervation and during reinnervation, and in injured and regenerating afferent nerve fibres

Changes occuring in sensory structures after denervation and during reinnervation, and in injured and regenerating afferent nerve fibres: written for the Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize in Physiology, 1963

Thesis or Dissertation

Doctoral

Prize Essay