Reproducible Mouse Sciatic Nerve Crush and Subsequent Assessment of Regeneration by Whole Mount Muscle Analysis

The overall goal of this procedure is to demonstrate a simple reproducible method of sciatic nerve crush and whole mount analysis of muscle reinnervation after sciatic nerve crush. This is accomplished by first exposing the sciatic nerve, including proper arrangement of surgical retractors to ensure good access to the nerve. Next, crush the nerve with hemostat forceps and mark the nerve with charcoal.

Then remove individual muscles innervated by sciatic nerve from the hind limb. The final step is to dissect individual muscles for whole mount analysis after immuno staining. Ultimately, the results demonstrate that reproducible sciatic nerve crush can be simply performed and muscle hole mounts can be used to analyze subsequent regeneration.