Daily Facial Stimulation to Improve Recovery After Facial Nerve Repair in Rats

作者：Lindsay Robin W^*; Heaton James T; Edwards Colin; Smitson Christopher; Vakharia Kalpesh; Hadlock Tessa A

来源：Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, 2010, 12(3): 180-185.

Objective: To establish whether daily mechanical stimulation improves functional recovery of whisking after facial nerve transection injury and repair in rats.
Methods: Forty rats underwent facial nerve transection injury and repair and subsequent quantitative facial movement testing. Animals were randomized into 2 experimental groups (n = 20 each). Both groups received daily 5-minute manual stimulation of their whiskers, with one group undergoing whisker protraction and the other, whisker retraction. Rats were tested on postoperative weeks 1, 4 through 8, and 15 via a validated, quantitative whisking kinematics apparatus. Whisks were counted and analyzed for whisking amplitude, velocity, and acceleration.
Results: Animals receiving manual stimulation by passive protraction of their whiskers demonstrated significantly improved functional recovery at multiple time points during the 15 weeks compared with historical controls (P<.005; 1-tailed t test). Recovery was similar in the protraction and retraction groups, trending toward better whisking recovery in the protraction group.
Conclusions: Daily mechanical whisker stimulation via either protraction or retraction significantly improves recovery of whisking after facial nerve transection and repair. This finding supports the role of early soft-tissue manipulation after facial nerve repair and may have clinical implications for the postoperative management of patients after facial nerve manipulations.

• 出版日期2010-6