Recovery of function after sciatic nerve crush lesion in rats selected for diverging locomotor activity in the open field

Abstract

The relation between recovery of function following a sciatic nerve crush lesion and an individual behavioural characteristic, the locomotor activity in an open field, was investigated in rats. Ten high-active (HA) and ten low-active (LA) rats were selected from a stock of sixty male, random-bred Wistar rats, by measuring travelled distance in an open field. Subsequently, both HA and LA rats underwent an unilateral sciatic nerve crush. Recovery of motor function revealed no significant differences between both groups, whereas recovery of sensory function in HA rats was significantly more rapid than in the LA rats (P<0.01). These observations suggest the existence of a relationship between individual behavioural characteristics, and the sensory recovery of nerve function following crush lesion in rats.