HEALING OF EXPERIMENTALLY TRANSECTED FACIAL NERVE IN DONKEYS

Document Type : Research article

Authors

Abstract

The study was carried out on 36 male donkeys. The animals were divided into 3 equal groups, where each group was divided into 4 subgroups of equal number. The operations were done unilaterally on the right side of the head at the level of the tempromandibular articulation. The facial nerve trunk was transected, then epineurial neurorrhaphy of the nerve trunk was perfomed using silk in the first group or dexon in the second group. In the third group the nerve alignment was done by suturing the surrounding tissues in the form of a tube around the nerve trunk. The clinical findings were recorded. The animals of the different subgroups were euthanized 1,2,4 and 6 months postoperatively, where the facial nerve at the operative site was examined macro and micromorphologically. After facil neurotomy the lower lip at the operated side appeared relaxed. The upper lip became deviated towards the sound side. The nasal opening of the sound side appeared dilated but the opening of the op < /strong>erated side was narrow. While the improvement of the clinical the effects of facial neurotomy began to appear within 2 months after neurorrhaphy, the regain of the normal condition took about 6 months to be completed. Histopathologically, the suture material had no effect on the process of the nerve regeneration. Suturing of the surrounding tissues in the form of a tube around the nerve trunk appeared to be insufficient technique for facial nerve regeneration.